49 years ago today
Apr. 4th, 2017 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raspberryrainForty-nine years ago today, they killed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Those that conspired to kill him were part of the power establishment, including government officeholders. They killed him to stop his challenge to the ruling class. Dr. King wanted to share the wealth of the nation with the people of that nation who were excluded from power; with the poor, the despised, and the oppressed.
I see people call themselves “conservative,” “conservatives,” “right-wing,” or the like for a lot of different reasons–some good, some bad. Even I’m “conservative” in some sense, on an issue or two. Tradition can be worth defending, sometimes.
But the United States of America has a history of ridiculous, extreme racism on one hand, and extreme, ridiculous “laissez-faire” capitalism on the other hand. In that context, “conservative” has a meaning. “Conservative” has a default, primary meaning. This is what it looks like; this is what it is.
A tradition of racial abuse, or of peonage, or of violence in the service of a ruling elite–that’s not a tradition worth defending or “conserving.”
(No art today.)
I see people call themselves “conservative,” “conservatives,” “right-wing,” or the like for a lot of different reasons–some good, some bad. Even I’m “conservative” in some sense, on an issue or two. Tradition can be worth defending, sometimes.
But the United States of America has a history of ridiculous, extreme racism on one hand, and extreme, ridiculous “laissez-faire” capitalism on the other hand. In that context, “conservative” has a meaning. “Conservative” has a default, primary meaning. This is what it looks like; this is what it is.
A tradition of racial abuse, or of peonage, or of violence in the service of a ruling elite–that’s not a tradition worth defending or “conserving.”
(No art today.)
