Here's Martin Luther King III writing an open letter of encouragement to John Edwards. Not so much an endorsement, but an exhortation to keep at it:
Dear Senator Edwards:
It was good meeting with you yesterday and discussing my father's legacy. On the day when the nation will honor my father, I wanted to follow up with a personal note.
There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of back and forth in the political arena over my father's legacy. It is a commentary on the breadth and depth of his impact that so many people want to claim his legacy. I am concerned that we do not blur the lines and obscure the truth about what he stood for: speaking up for justice for those who have no voice.
I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are – a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.
You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don't have lobbyists in Washington and they don't get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.
I am disturbed by how little attention the topic of economic justice has received during this campaign. I want to challenge all candidates to follow your lead, and speak up loudly and forcefully on the issue of economic justice in America.
From our conversation yesterday, I know this is personal for you. I know you know what it means to come from nothing. I know you know what it means to get the opportunities you need to build a better life. And, I know you know that injustice is alive and well in America, because millions of people will never get the same opportunities you had.
I believe that now, more than ever, we need a leader who wakes up every morning with the knowledge of that injustice in the forefront of their minds, and who knows that when we commit ourselves to a cause as a nation, we can make major strides in our own lifetimes. My father was not driven by an illusory vision of a perfect society. He was driven by the certain knowledge that when people of good faith and strong principles commit to making things better, we can change hearts, we can change minds, and we can change lives.
So, I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horserace, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter. As a friend and a believer in my father's words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.
Sincerely,
Martin Luther King III
Here’s the key quote, for me:
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p>Hillary Clinton has big backing from bigger lobbiests. On issues of economic justice for working families, it makes her a lot less credible.
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p>Barack Obama, on the other hand, talks hope but serves up a health plan that is arguably the worst of the three.
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p>While Obama and Clinton use their front-runner status and media platform to snipe at each other, Edwards is out there talking about issues that matter.
You are making me start to like Edwards.
Honestly none of these candidates are truly fighting for social justice and none of them should be. Social justice is something that cannot be accomplished by the government, cannot be accomplished by political campaigns, it takes true grassroots action lead by non-political actors and ideally religious actors to truly lead that fight.
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p>Settlement houses, the progressive movement, the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the womens lib movement, the anti-war movement, the gay rights movement, none of these movements were started or even supported initially by political candidates. None of these movements had political candidates as leaders instead it took millions of boots on the ground to force politicians to act.
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p>Similarly for those seeking true social justice you won’t find it in a candidate, especially one like Edwards. And as an Obama supporter Ill admit his first priority is not creating a more equitable society either, his first priority is to govern and while he can support and implement policies that make society better, making society more just, more open, more tolerant requires action outside of the political sphere as well as within it.
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p>The fight for social justice can only come from the bottom up and not the top down.
It comes from unions, it comes from people who care enough to make a difference. Just because you don’t think there is a significant grassroots efforts, does this mean candidates should not stand up for social justice?
remarkable, as is your ability to simultaneously insult both MLK III and John Edwards.
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p>Edwards isn’t claiming that social justice can only be ‘accomplished by the government’, but he’s using the bully pulpit to speak about the issues, at a time when few will. MLK III seems to think Edwards is doing a pretty good job of it, but maybe I misread his letter.
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p>As far as what can or can’t be accomplished by political leaders or governments, there was this guy…..
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p>This doesn’t even touch the subject of Kennedys efforts to address poverty in America or his antiwar positions. Robert Kennedy was murdered in June of 1968, 2 months after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, and on the night that he won the California Democratic Primary for POTUS.
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p>No political leadership for social justice there I guess.
This is an open letter by a predominant human rights advocate and the son of the leader of the civil rights movement. His life’s work is fighting for social justice. You don’t think that is going on now?
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p>What about this don’t you understand?
Barbara Jordan was a candidate and a leader in the movement for civil rights & women’s rights.
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p>Bella Abzug was a U.S. Representative, and a leading advocate of women’s equality. She coined perhaps the best measure of equality with this sentence: “Equality is not when a female Einstein gets promoted to assistant professor: Equality is when a female schlemiel moves ahead as fast as a male schlemiel.”
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p>Sen. William Fulbright was a fierce opponent of the Vietnam War, and used his committee’s powers of oversight to help bring public opinion against it.
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p>I believe that grassroots movements are key to bringing about change because a lot of our politicians, then as now, won’t get off their asses without a little fear of losing elections–but a lot of our voters sit on their asses, too, and strong leaders who speak out, like Jordan, Abzug, Fulbright, and Edwards, help to get voters off the fence. In addition to politicians who use the bully pulpit, progress can be helped by shrewd politicians such as FDR and LBJ who can twist arms and make deals to get better legislation. The Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act did much to improve social justice in America, as did the Social Security Act and Federal Minimum Wage Law.
What i meant to say was social justice movements are never launched or directed by political candidates they have to occur from the grassroots.
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p>MLK was so great because he didnt have political considerations and was really truly willing to fight, ditto Malcolm X and others.
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p>Politicians did not start the civil rights movement people did, Edwards in contrast is trying to start a movement and if the vote so far is any indication he has failed to do so.
In his memoir, Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project, Robert Moses makes a few points about how MLK led the Civil Rights movement with political decisions that people like Bob Moses thought were selling out. IIRC, MLK ostracized people who could be accused of socialism, fearing the FBI would crack down on SCLC. The book is a quick read.
…to see William Fulbright, the racist Senator (and “mentor” to WJC) lauded in a thread about MLK Jr…
and wrong on voting against civil rights. So he was a leader in one movement and not the other.