LETTERS: KING INSPLIRED A RIGHTEOUS CAUSE

To the editor:

Please add one very conservative white guy to the list of those who strongly support protection of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

Dr. King is not responsible for the foolish rhetoric of Louis Farrakhan. He never employed the rude irrationality of Maxine Waters, and he did not rely on government social programs to advance his cause. Dr. King was not responsible for the opportunistic welfare-state disaster which followed him.

But Dr. King is responsible for inspiring every God-fearing American to put his life and comfort on the line for a righteous cause, even though he be alone. He traded away a relatively affluent life as a gifted local pastor of stature and comfort for jail cells, beatings, vilification and death. And, perhaps most importantly to someone like me, he led the way in changing the mind of white America: Black people are people, and they are equal under God and under law in every way. Indeed, they may drink from any water fountain, borrow money from any bank for any home, be considered for any position anywhere and become president of all the people. Before MLK, such attitudes were held by almost no Americans, including blacks.

If we question whether MLK's birthday should be afforded the same status as Labor Day, Memorial Day or Thanksgiving, we have missed what the man meant to our republic. What he really did was to courageously and sacrificially preserve the two foundations of this republic: the rule of law over every whim and prejudice of man, and the innate equality of every single human being. Had his efforts failed, our Constitution and judicial system would have become the de jure servant of whoever could muster the political and martial power. It is time to admit that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is an American hero on the same plane as Lincoln and Washington.

The REV. MIKE WOELK, Pastor

Livingway Foursquare Church

Cape Girardeau