A Martin Luther King Moment

Mack Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com

Rioting in the Streets

Any civilized man must grieve to see benighted peoples, deprived of culture and literacy, rioting in the streets and the souks of their primitive cities. Yes, one hopes that perhaps soon Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Lebanon can somehow inspire the sectarian rivals in backwards Wisconsin to see the light of a new day of peace.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who never saw a camera with which he did not fall in love, has declared the instability in Madison as “a Martin Luther King moment.”

Well, no, it isn’t. After all, where are the Madison city police with their attack dogs and fire hoses and clubs? They seem to be home relaxing in front of the widescreen, and any dogs, hoses, and clubs they might possess appear to be of the dachshund, garden, and golf variety. Fifty years ago Martin Luther King and his friends were beaten, hosed, and jailed for asking folks to recognize that all people are equal before God. The worst risk the protesters in Wisconsin seem to be running is a shortage of Starbuck’s coffee.

The Wisconsin malcontents have occupied the state house, sitting in the legislature’s comfortable chairs, holding up signs, posing for photographs, calling people Hitler, and checking out the legislative restrooms: “Excuse me…excuse me…we’re out of toilet paper in here. Do you have any free trade, organically-grown, recycled, green-aware TP for my delicate skin? I have a college degree, you know, and not just any old toilet paper will do.”

Before this onslaught of barbarism Wisconsin’s Democrats have abandoned their duties and their people, and fled the state in terror, perhaps taking refuge with Hosni Mubarak in Sharm-El-Sheik in Egypt. Martin Luther King, by contrast, didn’t take a limousine ride to safety; he got the snot beat out of him and was locked away in the Birmingham jail. He didn’t face a security guard named Tiffany; he faced Bull Conner. Bit of a difference there.

And Martin Luther King had a real cause – human freedom and dignity, enjoying the God-given rights to live free from fear, to live free to work and save and vote and walk with pride. That’s just a teensy bit more of an issue than forging a doctor’s note and skipping a work day to complain about a 4% difference in retirement contributions.

There’s a little rioting going on in my yard during this false spring: the really fat raccoon does not want to share with the rabbits and squirrels the bit of dog food I put out every evening. A tough gang of cardinals has marked the birdseed feeder out on the oak tree as their turf, and with their little Marlboro cigarette packets rolled up in their little sleeves they bully all the other birds and even the local squirrels who, between the raccoon and the cardinals, are having a rough time. I’m calling my front yard Madison for now.

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