Caracas Chronicles

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963

Danny Glover and the members of his Transafrica Forum continue to protest that theirs is not a pro-government propaganda visit, or at least that’s what they say, in between one pro-government propaganda event and the next.

In the latest non-propaganda propaganda coup, flanked by government grandees, the Transafrica forumsters opened a photo exhibition on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The occasion raises, in my mind, a simple question: what would Dr. King do if he was alive today and faced with a government like Chavez’s?

WWMLKD?

After years of being harassed, spied on, intimidated, threatened and roughed up by the government, would he really support a government that routinely harasses, spies on, intimidates, threatens and roughs up its opponents?

After a lifetime spent trying to focus attention away from something as fleeting and banal as skin color, would he really support a government that plays on racial differences to bolster its support?

After working tirelessly for the economic empowerment of the most disadvantaged Americans, would he really support a government that has impoverished more people faster than any other in Venezuela’s history?

After risking his life to ensure the voting rights of all US citizens, would he really support a government that works tirelessly to block the rights of Venezuelans to vote in a recall referendum?

And would Dr. King, who was so passionate about Christ’s counsel to love your enemy, would he really support a government based almost entirely on the vilification of those who disagree with the leader, on the demonization of dissent, the equation of disagreement with treason?

WWMLKD?

“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.