Tag Archives: civil rights

King and Obama

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Rereading Martin Luther King’s speech from 50 years ago, it is a remarkable piece of rhetorical wonder. The New York Times ran a front-page story on it yesterday.

King’s speech struck a chord because it went narrow and deep. It spoke specifically of a vexing problem: the persistent, violent, and inhumane treatment of black people in America.

There was no sugar-coating in Dr. King’s speech. He didn’t name names, but he did name a particular region of the country: The South.

And what he said was as direct as it was forceful: We have had enough of this crap.

Of course, King made the point with the magic of poetry enshrouded in the mysticism of spiritualism. He called forth for help from the almighty, mostly through allusion, to a specific goal: Let my people go. Continue reading →

Four Score and Seven Years Ago

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. Continue reading →

The Long Slog

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Probably the best thing for Republicans would be for the Supreme Court to rule that gay marriage is legal and let us all move on, but I don’t think that is going to happen. The media is completely focused on the goings on at the nation’s highest court, as if there is nothing else in the world that matters. And that means I have to give my two cents worth.

It used to be that the prospect of gay marriage was a sure political winner for the GOP. Karl Rove worked with different groups to get referendums on various state ballots to help drive the Christian right to the polls, the theory being that if Christians went to the polls, they would vote for George Bush. Continue reading →