Civil Rights Leader Coretta Scott King Dies
Story here. She died a day before Black History Month, begins, which may be eerily apropos.
My question: are the Rev. and Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr. as relevant -- and powerful -- figures in the civil rights movement / racial equality movement today as they were in the last 1960s? Why and why not? Who is the "next generation" of civil rights leaders?
posted by Sean @ 1/31/2006 08:31:00 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
It's a sad day for civil rights activists, but as the least politically correct member of this blog, I feel it's my duty to point out that much of the weight of King's words has been diluted by the greed of his late wife and surviving family. How can you continue to impress a message as strong as King's while repressing society's ability to deliver the words as they were spoken? Check out what I'm talking about at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011400980.html
That's a very interesting question, Sean. Who are the next generation of civil rights leaders? Off the top of my head, I can't really think of any. We have Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, but I think they are fast losing their relevancy. You have younger black political leaders like Barak Obama (sp?), but I don't know that you could classify him as a civil rights leader. I can't even name a single woman/other minority activist. There are some people in the entertainment industry who are socially conscious--like Kanye West (although I must admit I'm a little confused as to why he'd appear on the cover of Rolling Stone dressed like Jesus)--but none who you could really label as an activist. That's by no means a complete survey, but it does beg the question: is the civil rights movement dead?
Kanye lost mucho cred in my book with his RS cover shot... I mean, WTF was that about?
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