Is Martin Luther King still relevant?

You may have had Monday off and not really thought about what the Martin Luther King holiday is about. Don't feel guilty: it happens with all holidays. Anyway, within the lifetimes of a lot of Americans, things have changed a lot. Before Martin Luther King came along, racial segregation was enforced by something called Jim Crow laws.

Anyway, I know you don't want a long lecture, so I'll get to the point.

Martin Luther King was a controversial person in his day and not only controversial with white people. Some African Americans criticized him harshly and thought he was naive to think that segregation and racial discrimination could be gotten rid of without violence. But at a very deep level Dr. King believed in America. He knew that the founding fathers had set up a structure of government that could improve upon itself.

And that is what happened. Dr. King's nonviolent methods ultimately showed the United States what it needed to change back then.

So Martin Luther King is relevant because marches and other protests in the 1950's and 60's brought about profound changes to the United States?

Partly, but isn't he even more relevant than that? How about Occupy Wall Street and the other Occupy protests that are going on right now? All those protesters are doing things the King way.

The non-violent "Occupy" protests seem to me like a more effective way of making your point than flying a small airplane into an IRS office building (better also than flying large jets into large buildings, but I won't go there.)

Anyway, I only have one more thing to say:

LET FREEDOM RING!!!!!