Columnist: MLK Sent Hurricane Because of Violence, Racism and Porn in Our Society

Officially, this weekend's dedication ceremony for the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. was postponed due to Hurricane Irene.

Not so, according to Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley. Instead, the late civil rights leader sent the massive storm to shutter the celebration and force everyone to pause and self-reflect amid the pervasive violence, racism and pornography in our society.

Riley wrote:

First, there was an earthquake. Then there was a hurricane. What in the world could be going on?

Nothing in the world. That was just Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., above the world, shutting down the celebration, getting our attention and telling us to take a good look at ourselves.

If King were here today, she said, he would be "roiled with righteous anger and sadness" because of:

• Black teens running around, beating people in Philadelphia and Milwaukee flash mob violence.

• The trial of the men who beat Vincent Kee, a gentle, mentally disabled man in Albuquerque, N.M., and then branded him with a swastika.

• Black teens dropping out of schools in Detroit, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Gary, Ind., in numbers too obscene to say aloud.

• Three white men, on a mission to hurt a black person, driving to Jackson, Miss., and beating an innocent 49-year-old James Anderson, then driving their Ford F-250 pickup over him to kill him.

All of this in addition to:

• The soft-core porn that passes as programming on MTV, VH1 and BET.

• Widespread unemployment at a rate higher than in 1963 when he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall.

• A magazine editor calling America's first president of color the slang word for penis on national TV.

Therefore, with this in mind, King "didn't think we were ready to celebrate today" and instead, "the raindrops on the King monument today will represent the tears of the lions who went before and left this world hoping that better would come after."

Whenever the dedication is rescheduled for, she said, hopefully we'll have "a better report to show."

What do you think of Riley's reasoning? Let us know in the comments.

(h/t Fark)