Harold's Left:

Over 20 years ago there was a struggle to elevate a man who moved American history in a way few others have. During the early 1980's, the Republican Party was up in arms over the proposal of a national holiday to celebrate the legacy of MLK. President Reagan threatened to veto, and Senator Jesse Helms threatened to veto the bill. Opponents, who tried to use all sorts of excuses to cloud their racism; that it would be too costly to create another federal holiday, that it would be unfair to elevate so ethnic leader to a position of national prominence, and that he was too much of a leftist and possibly a communist.

The reality is that King and his legacy represent the best of what it has meant to lover this country. He used a keen respect for the founding values of America to challenge folks who were intent on denying them for centuries. King has been elevated to a level that has surpassed most of the former Presidents of this country, as is also evidenced a new Washington memorial between the Washington and Lincoln memorials now being called the "line of liberty".

On today, we celebrate the legacy of one of the most important progressives of the 20th century.

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