Posting:
Travis Miller says:
While I appreciate your eloquent viewpoint and applaud you for overcoming adversity in your life, I have to ask, did you read this book? If not, I'm not sure why you chose the forum of a "book review" to express your opinions. Oh, and why is it that no one seems to mind the obvious playing of the "race card" by the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as they seek to line their own pockets at the expense of the black community at large?
-------- ------- says:
Hello Mr.Travis Miller,
I don't buy their books either. I prefer to read widely from a variety of sources and form my own opinions.
My point was simply Dr. Hill is in his past. If he is truly not guilty of the harassment he was accused of (I recall his confirmation, and was initially in his corner), then his memoir should stand on its own merits without resorting to personal attacks. At most, she should be a footnote if any mention at all. Such a tactic is sophomoric, and in my opinion, beneath the dignity of the office of a Supreme Court Justice.
Black Americans don't need "leadership" or the media-ordained leaders like Reverends Jackson and Sharpton on the left or Justice Thomas on the right.
Since the assassination of Dr. King, some in the media have tried to replace him and others have exploited his (quite human) life to their own ends.
Dr. King, with all his accomplishments and personal flaws was not the movement: young people like the Greensboro Four from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University that galvanized the tactic of sit-ins across the nation; young people that are immortalized in documented images of fire hoses, dogs, police beatings, marches and mass arrests; young people like my older sister, my wife's aunt and their friends, they were the movement. Dr. King was the focal point and came under critic from the far left and extreme right almost simultaneously, especially after his stance against the Vietnam War. Malcolm X spoke of him derisively until near the end of his life and mission.
We, like all Americans need to accept responsibility for our futures. A Constitutional Democracy is a participatory exercise. Demagoguery only gets in the way.
I thank you for your candor and your gracious reply as far as my background.
