Martin Luther King, Jr., in his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, famously proclaimed; “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Dr. King being a minister, we can safely assume that his measurement of “character” would have included those qualities which were good, decent, honorable – constructive, not destructive. Using that criteria it’s not difficult to evaluate the following two men and their individual reflections on Independence Day.
The first, comedian Chris Rock, proffered this witty comment on Twitter:
Happy white peoples independence day the slaves weren’t free but I’m sure they enjoyed the fireworks. Haha
Yeah Chris, LOL.
Focus on what was wrong with the country more than 230 years ago. Ignore the Christian Abolitionist movement. Mock the blood of over 500,000 Americans spilled to bring an end to slavery. Continue to pick a scab that long since should have been allowed to heal – but for angry (millionaire) leftists like you. All for a few yucks.
As the kids used to say Rock, “that was so funny I forgot to laugh.”
Then there’s Rep. Allen King who had a much different message yesterday:
Happy Birthday to Our Constitutional Republic.
Today we come together as Americans to celebrate the day on which we declared our independence from Great Britain. Fifty-six rebels came together 236 years ago in the heat of a Philadelphia summer to write a declaration the likes of which had never occurred in recorded history.
As lawyers, merchants, farmers and land owners, they had plenty to lose. But as revolutionaries, fighting against an imperial, despotic ruler, they had everything to gain. Their goal was to establish a new form of government which derived its power from the individual and not from the monarch. Our Founders shared a unified vision for our nation. They understood this unity of the many was necessary to uphold the sovereignty of the individual, and the fundamental rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Then, they took to the battlefield to secure this liberty. And since the founding of our nation, we have taken to the battlefield on numerous occasions to defend our freedoms and our way of life. Today we remember the men who laid down their lives at Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge and Yorktown to secure our freedom, and all service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice in all battles throughout our nation’s history to preserve our cherished freedoms.
Founding Father John Adams wrote his wife, Abigail, regarding the signing of the Declaration of Independence “I believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival… It ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other…”
Today from sea to shining sea we will light up the skies with fireworks in a celebration of the longest enduring Constitutional Republic, and in remembrance of the men who mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to create the United States of America.
If America has really reached the point where a man can be judged by the content of his character, it’s pretty obvious which of these two is by far the better man.
