I Have a Dream… or Did I?
These days you can invoke the memory of Martin Luther King for all sorts of things: from applying for a concealed weapon permit to brokering a backroom deal with special interest groups.
In a web-posted press release to announce that the 16 million employees represented by unions would be exempt from an excise tax (until 2018) imposed on the other 114 million U.S. employees, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel concluded with this:
I believe it is significant and worth noting that we reach this point of progress with the nation’s celebration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the horizon. He dared to dream big dreams for America – dreams that at the time, many thought impossible. We take this giant step forward toward the dream of health care reform – a dream that has been pursued in this nation for more than 50 years by seven presidents. We move forward in a manner that treats working Americans fairly – they will not be penalized because of gender, age or where they live. I believe all of this would be pleasing to Dr. King.
So today, I challenge us to be as bold and courageous as Dr. King and dream big. We will not stop, we will not turn back – we are firmly committed to harnessing the collective power of labor organizations, representing 16 million working Americans, to work for the passage of health care reform legislation that is fair to working families and moves our nation forward to compete and succeed in the global economy.
However, in the video version of the same statement, all references to Dr. King have been, um, excised.
