We Sure as Hell Could Use Martin Luther King Today

Not pictured, President Elect Trump not showing any damn respect

Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day. MLK Day has always been a big deal to me.

As a kid, it was fun because I did not have school, but the older I got, the more I came to realize how great of a man Martin Luther King Jr truly was. He was one hundred percent a man that took charge and was for the people. He fought the good fight no matter what he had to deal with. He fought harsh racism, corrupt policemen and politicians, people not believing in his cause, the constant threat of death and he took it all in stride. He was a man with a plan, and he would be damned if he let anyone step in his way. He needed to get his voice out there, and the people back then needed it, and we need it now as well.

MLK would have staunchly fought the new government, and I would love to have seen him do it. This new crew of "politicians" that will be taking office on Friday are some of the most corrupt and racist since MLK was still alive. I know I said I was done with politics, but I cannot in good conscious of one of my idols, sit by and not say anything on this day that we dedicate to him. MLK would have fought tooth and nail with what is coming upon us. Just look at what the great John Lewis is doing right now. Multiply that by 100, and that is what MLK would have done. He would have gathered up so many protests and fought this "establishment" with everything that he could have. And I would have done everything I could to help him out.

I idolized MLK as a child, teenager and now an adult, so if he was still with us, you are god damn right that I would have stood by his side. Like I said, people like John Lewis and Bernie Sanders are doing what they can, but man oh man, if we still had MLK, just imagine the phenomenal speeches, protests and anti government things he would have been able to accomplish. MLK was a singular person in this fight.

Many people stood by King's side in the 60's when he was fighting injustice, but he was the one that stood out. He was charismatic, an exceptional speaker, a great organizer and a natural born leader. I encourage everyone that feels disillusioned and saddened by what has happened since November 8th to go watch one of MLK's old speeches. I have watched three different speeches of his, and damn it, I want to start a revolution. Hearing what he had to say in the 60's holds so much weight right now with what we have coming to us in 4 short days. I was moved to tears a few times because MLK was such a great, great man, and these speeches were just one of the many exceptional things he did in his short life. He spoke with such eloquence, but also urgency to get up and stand up for what you believe in.

King was also a non violent protester, another thing I loved about him. He was never there to start any fights. Most protests that he organized had him and the people with him locking arms and walking slowly. Go look at pictures of Selma and tell me that isn't one of the most breathtaking and strongest things you have ever seen. And it was a non violent protest that corrupt police turned violent, not MLK.

I have three idols in my life, my dad, Jackie Robinson and MLK. Unfortunately for the other 2, they don't have days dedicated to them, but at least MLK does. And I celebrate this day. I celebrate the man that MLK was. I was grocery shopping earlier this morning, and I was telling my 4 year old all about what made MLK such a great man, and he listened to every word. Every time I log on to Facebook or Twitter and see all the great words people are saying about him, or using his quotes, I am filled with joy. The only thing that makes me sad, we need him now more than ever. He would have been a great leader for people that have sense.

For those of us, 56 percent, the majority of us, that did not vote for this incoming administration, he would have been the best person to speak for those of us that cannot, or do not, have the platform. Bernie Sanders and John Lewis are awesome, and I commend and appreciate everything that they are doing right now, but MLK would have done so, so much more.

And by the way, any conservative that sits back and tries to say nicethings about MLK, stop it. You are the monsters that wanted this administration, and MLK would have HATED each and every one of you morons. The people involved with the incoming "government", and anyone that voted for this monstrosity clearly does not stand for, or believe that what MLK did was of any importance. That is sad and disgusting.

MLK was a great, great man that shaped many of my political and social beliefs. I love you and I miss you. You were a revolutionary Mr. King. Enjoy and celebrate this day that we dedicate to this marvelous man. You were truly one of a kind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There will be no one else like you ever.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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The SeedSing (half) year in Politics and Society

What is the opposite of progress?

SeedSing was launched on May 1st (National Workers Day) so we could look at politics and pop culture from the common person. We are not interested in influence or telling stories that will protect the egos of the well connected. What started out as one man's personal political philosophy has grown into a discussion covering a variety of topics. Join us for a look back at the year in politics and society.

The first article posted on our Politics/Society section was about The Ohio Problem. Every presidential election states like Ohio become very important to the national Democratic Party. Out of state consultants are brought in to fund raise and create a massive voter outreach program for the presidential nominee. In their effort to secure the state, the Democratic Party forgets about the local candidates. The lack of voter turnout during non-presidential elections is a direct consequence of the Ohio problem. There was another election in November of 2015, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky saw the election of a Tea Party zealot for Governor, large in part because voter turnout was so low. This is directly related to the Republican Party taking over the majority of local offices in many blue states. We identified the The Ohio Problem, and then tried to find out how to solve this issue. Technology and an emphasis on local messaging are two solutions we put forward. In 2016 SeedSing is looking forward to many other solution oriented ideas on how to fix a problem like Ohio.

The how and why of the modern Republican Party was featured many times on SeedSing. The hypocrisy, lack of global leadership, the need to be hateful, the absence of vision, and the celebration of failure, were all on display for the Republican Party this year. The only glimmer of hope in their dreary future seems to be Senator Rand Paul, but the Republican Party does not seem to care about a candidate who can grow the parties voter base. The parties faithful base would rather rally behind a loudmouthed bigot idiot that has never heard of Muhammad Ali or Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

The traditional press and the original internet taste makers were beginning to show their incompetence in 2015. The rise of Donald Trump is upon us because the news people on television love to have a good story. It is time to ignore the press before they really bring disaster to our society. The old icons of the internet were not behaving any better than their television counterparts. Reddit and Gawker may be letting out their final breaths. At SeedSing we believe it is time for the old walled ways of the internet to die, and it is time to make way for a new open discussion.

How we live and the way we define people became a topic of discussion all over the internet. Tina S shared her views on what #ILookLikeAnEngineer really means. The saga of Rachel Dolezal briefly made us talk about how we identify race. Kirk Aug recommended books on  the failure that is the war on drugs, and the policy side of death. We took a look at the legalization of marijuana, and it's eventual failure at the Ohio ballot box.  Who we are and how we live will determine the type of society we will die in.

Gun violence became a larger problem with a solution falling farther away. Guns were used as tools of destruction for a racist. Guns were used to kill two people trying to do their jobs. Guns were used to cause terror at rural community college. Guns were used by crazy people to insight terror in Paris. Predictable we decided to fight this terror with more destruction. Each event was covered by the news, and as a society we tried to find meaning. The public was never able to discuss the gun as being part of the problem, and the violence continues. 

We had many challenging discussions at SeedSing about the state of our politics and our society. 2016 looks to be an even more exciting year. We have a Presidential election to look forward to. Will Hillary win it all (probably)? Have something to say about the state of politics and society? Come join our conversation.

Thank you for 2015. On to 2016

RD Kulik (and all the SeedSing contributors)

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. Do you love SeedSing, but do not want to write? Money is always welcome around here.

The Republican Hate Trap

It has been a bad week for the Republican Party.

A no good, very bad week.

I am not talking about their failure (once again) to get rid of Obamacare. I am not talking about their failure (once again) to ban gay marriage. This is also not about their victory to eliminate any talk of meaningful gun control in light of another mass killing. The Republican Party's bad week is about how all of those events caused the party's leaders to embrace the typical hate filled white christian majority victim hood that is losing the party voters and any national future.

The Republican party has been fighting the reforms of the New Deal for multiple generations. Their current leaders can not have a meaningful thought about domestic policy without attacking reforms enacted nearly eighty years ago. The programs of the New Deal have been large a part of american society,  removing them would cause a massive  economic crisis. The Republican party has been so invested in dismantling the New Deal,  they have no plan to deal with the catastrophic aftermath of their goals.

These irrational, outdated, tactics infect the current Republican voter outreach strategies. The Affordable Health Care Act was not a perfect law,  far from it. The law did succeed in giving healthcare to more at need Americans. Since the passage of the ACA,  the only action from the elected republicans is to act like petulant children and try to repeal the law. They tried,  and tried,  and tried,  and on and on. There was no plan, only a tantrum. Lower income Americans were beginning to see clearly that the republicans had no interest in helping them. These potential voters were mostly lost to any national campaign by the Republican party.

The need to cater to the outdated and hateful religious right has caused the Republicans to alienate a very powerful and engaged voter group, gay men. The actions of the Supreme Court were long overdue, and many Americans were happy that this embarrassment had been corrected. The response from all the national Republican leaders was predictable, silence or hate. The hate, coming from supposed Christians, was ugly and useless. Christian conservatives always vote in the exact same numbers, and they always vote Republican. If one national Republican realized that gay men tend to be more conservative on fiscal issues,  that person could start to cultivate new voters. Instead the legacy of hate and obstruct stops any movement in bringing in these new, valuable, voters.

Where the Republican hate trap reared its ugly head the most is the aftermath of the Charleston Church massacre. Our government is filled with cowards when it comes to stemming gun violence. The tricky part for the Republicans is they needed a distraction from having to talk about the gun problem in America. The media decided that distraction was going to be the Confederate flag. The hate trap was set, because now Republicans who defended a symbol of hate had to now openly attack it. This was not a good plan to a few deep south Republicans (see Haley Barbour). These politicians defending the Confederate flag kept reminding voters of the parties history of racism. The brain trust that is Sean Hannity even used his tired tactic of false equivalence and demanded rap music be banned along with the Confederate flag. Hannity is whining because he cannot embrace his symbol of hate,  so attacks something else ethnic that he hates. Every single guest on Hannity's radio and television shows will have to defend the Confederate flag and attack rap music. Good bye millennial voters, good job Sean.

The Democratic Party has not been very proactive in creating positive social change. The national leaders usually sit back and wait for social changes to become more viable. This allows the Democrats the luxury to co-opt these movements and be seen as the party of all people. Their biggest asset in claiming the progressive mantle is that the Republicans can not claw out of their hate trap.

Thank God.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for Seed Sing. He enjoys watching hateful people dig themselves into holes. Fox News is one of his favorite entertainment options. He needs you to write for Seed Sing.

Why do you demand misery from someone who is trying to not be miserable?

This site published an article recently questioning ESPN's decision to award their Arthur Ashe Courage Award to Caitlyn Jenner (ESPN does not care about courage).  The editorial staff and the writer made it clear that we do not question the courage of Caitlyn Jenner, we question the integrity of ESPN.  What Jenner has done in normalizing the conversation surrounding the transgender community is miraculous. Most of the pop culture and political community have been supportive in Jenner's announcement. The ugly vitriol has come from the obvious non-surprising sources, I will not link to these comments here.  What is truly amazing is that within the hateful community, some Republican politicians have been supportive of Caitlyn Jenner. Maybe the Republicans are realizing that they need to create more votes? 

This week the story of Rachel Dolezal became public (see here for an explanation). The media predictably began to destroy Ms. Dolezal.  People were rending garments and wondering how could this privileged woman do something so horrible. There has been no room for debate, Rachel Dolezal is a racist and she must be brought down. The lazy media moved this story to the top of everyone's news feed. The internet hate machine was put into action, everyone had a negative opinion of the disaster that is named Rachel Dolezal.

What exactly did Rachel Dolezal do that was wrong? She may have lied on a federal form about race. That is a crime. When Caitlyn Jenner files her taxes (or more likely when she sets up her tax shelters) will she commit a crime if she checks the female box on the forms? Will people be up in arms if she is not allowed checks the female box?  Rachel Dolezal has spent her adult life being an advocate for African-american art and issues. By all accounts she was very good at her job. Being a successful advocate means one needs to remove themselves from the conversation. Ms. Dolezal has built a career being the voice behind the faces. Her work afforded the opportunity to serve on a committee where she could enhance the advocacy for African-american issues.

The relation between Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal is minor, except in how the media wants to cover personal identification.  The Huffington Post, once a valuable resource for liberal voices, has quickly become the poster child of clickbait (need to see the latest in celebrity side-boob, the good liberals at HuffPo have you covered). Huffington Post reliably had to weigh in with the pitchfork crowd, and they want to find every way to tear Rachel Dolezal down. The debate in the minds of HuffPo's professional liberals is one of Caitlyn Jenner's courage and Rachel Dolezal's institutional racism. I had never thought of comparing Jenner's and Dolezal"s issues, but thanks to HuffPo I will now look at the issues side by side. Caitlyn Jenner has been part of the zeitgeist for a very long time.  She was able to create relationships, and sympathy, in the liberal popular culture because of Bruce Jenner's treatment by the Kardashian machine.  Transgender issues have made positive strides in our popular culture, and thankfully we are becoming more accepting of people based on their personal identifications. Rachel Dolezal's race identification is an unknown issue in today's society.  New is never good for social liberals or conservatives.

We have thankfully started to accept people's personal identification, except for race. This is the ugly truth of the Rachel Dolezal story. Caitlyn Jenner can be born a man, identify as a woman, and we SHOULD accept it. There is outdated people who will direct hate towards the transgender community, but the good people will control the public acceptance. These same good liberals will not give the same courtesy to Rachel Dolezal.  What is the deal? I have seen some people accuse Ms. Dolezal of engaging in the disgusting practice of blackface. Many high profile white people have recently used blackface in some manner (Robert Downey Jr, Julianne Hough, Sarah Silverman, Billy Crystal, to name just a few). Some of these celebrities were questioned, others were given a pass, but in all cases it was wrong. Rachel Dolezal is not a large public figure, she is not playing a part, she is trying to be the person she is. I can not believe she is trying to cause a stir by being an African-american women. Why has she not sought fame for nearly twenty years of identifying as an African-american? Why does that bother anyone?

My belief is that the good liberals, and predictable social conservatives, fear anything that does not fit their basic narrative. Here is the common ground. The liberals push for acceptance, and fight for equality, but will not tolerate any change in the conversation on race. Social conservatives just want things to not change(I think their ideal year was sometime in the 1950's). Race relations has been on the front of social change conversation recently, and people are understandably touchy on what race means.  Rachel Dolezal is not choosing to identify as African-american because of recent events.  She has been identifying as an African American for years.

Rachel Dolezal has not hurt anyone, as a matter of fact she has helped a large amount of people.  She was already in a lesser power class by being a woman, identifying as an African-american women only gave her less social power. Why does anyone care? She has not been going out of her way maliciously deceiving people. She found out who she is. We celebrate Caitlyn Jenner and urge the public to let her live life in happiness.  Rachel Dolezal deserves to live life in happiness.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the Head Editor of Seed Sing. We are looking for contributors and podcast guests. Contact us here.