Jewish World Review Jan. 18, 2006 / 18 Teves, 5766

Why use Martin Luther King Day to stir hatred?

By Joe Scarborough

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Why is it that some politicians love to turn Martin Luther King Day celebrations into race-bating spectacles? Kind of crazy, I think, considering the great civil rights leader spent his life preaching racial reconciliation.

I guess some politicians don't read history books.

Monday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin used a King commemoration to claim G-d wanted the Big Easy to be a "chocolate" city controlled by African Americans.

Imagine what would have happened if a white politician had declared that Jesus Christ had proclaimed to him in a vision that New Orleans was to be a white-controlled city.

That white racist would be run out of town in 24 hours.

So why do we let bigoted statements made by black leaders go unpunished?

Presidential historian and New Orleans resident Douglas Brinkley condemned Nagin's comments Tuesday night on "Scarborough Country" and suggested that the mayor may be losing his mind. If that's the case, he deserves our pity. But what's Hillary Clinton's excuse?

Monday, the future Democratic nominee for president spoke at Al Sharpton's MLK Day event in New York and compared Republican members of Congress to slave holders.

Clinton said, "When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation and you know what I'm talking about."

Huh?

Did the next Democratic nominee for President of the United States really use a day reserved for racial reconciliation to tell black Americans that public servants not in her party were comparable to slave owners who beat, raped and killed human beings for profit?

I think she did.

But will she be held accountable by a liberal media elite who loathes Republicans almost as much as Senator Clinton?

Not on your life. And that's too bad, because it teaches other politicians that preaching hatred comes with few penalties. Happy MLK Day, Ray and Hillary. And thanks for promoting peace and unity between the races.