"I've Been to the Mountaintop"... King

Today is the anniversary of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shot in 1968 in Memphis Tennessee, he was just 39 years old.

King, and his espousal of non-violence, was one of most important influences in my formative political philosophy.

The previous evening he had given the famously prophetic speech comparing his struggle to lead the Civil Rights movement with that of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt:

"We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!"

A Double Dose of Depression

Just when you thought the US was "post-racial" having elected Obama, along comes Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace in Louisiana who has refused to marry a couple of different ethnicities.

What's even more shocking is that this is not his first refusal, but his FIFTH, and the authorities have done nothing about it.

Okay the man's an idiot and a racist, but he should not be allowed to be an idiot and a racist on the public purse. Instead, he should be sacked and the prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

When I taught a course on the American Civil Rights movement, I drew my students' attention to Loving v. Virginia (1967), where the Supreme Court unanimously declared the Commonwealth of Virginia's "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, so ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage.

However, I did have to laugh at his comment that he had, "piles of black friends [who] come to my home [and] use my bathroom". If I was him I'd check to see that they didn't take a dump anywhere else.