Nearing the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Leonard Pitts takes note of the legacy and today's
moral cowards and would-be usurpers of that legacy:
King would see that for all the progress we have made, we live in a
time of proud ignorance and moral cowardice wherein some white people —
not all — smugly but incorrectly pronounce all racial problems solved.
More galling, it is an era of such cognitive incoherence that
conservatives — acolytes of the ideology against which King struggled
all his life — now routinely claim ownership of his movement and kinship
with his cause.
When he was under fire for questioning the constitutionality of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, for instance, Sen. Rand Paul wanted it known
that he’d have marched with King had he been of age. And he probably
believes that. (our emphasis)
Speaking of moral cowards, we see South Carolinia distaff peckerwood
Kathleen Parker missing the point, entirely (spoiler alert: it's racist to point out racism, and it's all Obama's fault). Wrong side of history -- again.
