If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today would society view him the same way it views Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton?

I (personally) believe that the black “leaders” that you refer to are not of the same caliber as Dr King and are not necessarily comparable. So my answer would be no, I believe he would be admired for his work.

No, TPTB would be more afraid of him and really dislike him. I don’t think he would’ve survived much past the time he was assassinated, anyway.

He was beginning to broaden his message from civil rights to class/money issues, which never sits well with the people who have a lot of money and would like to keep it. Malcolm X was coming towards similar conclusions when he was killed, as was RFK.

I sometime wonder whether some element or other has paid those two gentlemen (and Farrakhan too) to play the fool over the years to weaken any attempt towards a greater unifying movement of lower and middle class people.

Maybe he would be treated as Nelson Mandela is treated in South Africa. They were very similar and fought for the same things, as well as in the same time period, roughly. Nelson Mandela is extremely popular in South Africa. I was there this summer during his 90th birthday, and on the radio people phoned in and wished him a happy birthday. Bands called and played happy birthday on the phone with the radio station and interviews and contests were centered around that topic. It was practically a day off, because all employers let their employees off work, although it is not officially a national holiday.

@aprilsimnel You and Kevbo should get together and talk conspiracy theories.

@syz – Well, while I don’t believe that 9/11 was an inside job, I feel that when Hoover was creating dossier after dossier designed to find a way to bring “Commie” Dr King down, and the mainstream media of the day was vehemently criticizing his anti-Vietnam statements, it’s not too far a leap for me to think that soon enough King was going to be popped off. That’s all.

I think the larger society would be divided on King politically, both black and white, were he alive now. But I know a lot of black people think Sharpton and Jackson are a couple of money-scamming dolts, where Dr King was not. And a lot of younger people think Jackson’s and Sharpton’s day is done. That’s why Jackson was really crying on election night! goes a joke I’ve heard.

King, although not without his faults, was much more dignified in public than either Sharpton or Jackson. He gave gravity to his message by his comportment. As a skilled preacher he also had a way with words, creating phrases that resonate long after his death. I see no reason why he wouldn’t have continued in that vein.

I hope he’d be a national hero, just like he is in our memories. In decending order of credibility: King >>>> Jackson > Sharpton.

Sakata, if you listen to a recording of a good speech by Martin Luther King, I think you may learn more than you could from our conjecture. He was an extremely powerful speaker with very intelligent and compelling things to say, and Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton don’t come anywhere close to being in his league.

I’ve listened to and/or read most of Dr. King’s work. My intention for this question was simply to get the community’s views and feelings. In my opinion, Sharpton and Jackson would, quite literally, melt if they were in the presence of Dr. King today.

In my opinion Sharpton is viewed as leader primarily because he is loud and won’t stop interjecting himself into as many situations as he can.

Jackson is viewed as a leader on the basis of his history with King and the Civil Rights movement and because King is dead and so is no longer an active leader. While well-intentioned, Jackson doesn’t seem to make wise decisions at times nor see the big picture.

Remember Tawana Brawley and Al Sharpton’s impassioned defense of her before he did due diligence?

In some communities, Jackson and Sharpton are seen as heroes that speak truth to power, and in some communities, they are seen as trouble.

In some communities in the 60’s, King was seen as a hero who spoke truth to power, and in other communities he was seen as trouble.

I think the reason that King is now widely hailed as a hero was because his work pretty much succeeded in advancing his community, and we have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. The other difference is that his “trouble” was a little more dignified than the “trouble” of Sharpton and Jackson. No matter how you cut it, King was of higher calibre.

Also, something to consider is that the trail was blazed by King. Only after his work had taken affect can there be the leisure to think of people like Sharpton and Jackson as buffoons.

So are Sharpton & Jackson technically out of work? To mean, have their jobs been downsized but they just won’t give up their offices?

or their staplers

gail: i’m glad you brought up and remembered the tawana brawley thing that sharpton never seems to want to recall. someone should be brave enough to bring it up to him in an interview.

I don’t think so….he was a different kind of person. There are some people who are For Real, like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Jesus. Then there are the Al Sharptons and…oh, who’s that one famous TV preacher who was caught with a male prostitute/boyfriend. I know that MLK played around, was not faithful to his wife, but still he wasn’t like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson—or Malcolm X.