16 Jan 2015 Creating Unjustified Racial Strife Dishonors MLK Legacy

Bishop Council Nedd II, a longtime member of the National Center’s Project 21 black leadership network, explained that there are too many people in America these days whose action “dishonor” the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  They dishonor him, for example, when they continue to fixate on race and help to breed discontent after all of the work Dr. King accomplished to successfully open up opportunities and tear down institutional discrimination against his fellow black Americans.

Commenting on how society has changed so radically for the better with regard to dealing with outright racial discrimination over just the past few decades, Council said:

[W]e shouldn’t dishonor him by still pretending things are problems when they really aren’t problems anymore [and] by allowing people like Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to stand up and cause discontent just for the sake of causing discontent.

In a discussion about the King legacy on the 1/15/15 edition of “The Rick Amato Show” on the One America News Network, Council lamented that he actually sees race relations getting worse in America despite all of the gains Dr. King helped accomplish.  And Council found President Barack Obama’s leadership style to be lacking in particular when it comes to working to reverse this potential crisis for our nation:

In my lifetime, I don’t know that I’ve seen this much racial tension…

If the election of President Obama is somehow some sort of fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream, you know, maybe, at this point, Dr. King’s dream has become a nightmare.  A horrible nightmare that’s sort of run amuck.

There are hurting people in this country right now.  There are a lot of people upset.  There are a lot of people who are ill at ease for a variety of different reasons which, in my opinion, all fall on President Obama’s lap…

When Amato asked Council to expand on his charge against President Obama, Council explained that he believes Obama squanders opportunities to help fix the problem of strained race relations and discontent:

He’s the President of the United States.  He’s got the bully pulpit.  He’s in a position to stand up and speak with authority about certain issues — about all issues that affect people in this country.  And what does he tend to do?  He’s still playing pandering games.  He’s still pandering to people…

Now would be the time for him to stand up, to speak with authority and say “this is what I really believe, this is what I want to do.”  But, again, he’s still playing politics.