Dr. King: Hero Yes, Santa Claus No

We observed the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's death this weekend. In listening to and digesting the observations made about him one thing stood out to me. He was clearly an amazing leader. But because of the way we learn about twentieth century history now we only learn of him in video snippets. The "I have a Dream" speech or the "mountaintop speech. We forget that behind the scenes King was crafting legislation. We forget that he was pressuring Lyndon Johnson to make legislative moves to change America.

King was a leader, a motivator, an orator, a legislator, a preacher, a politician. In other words he was a complicated, intelligent man. I hope going forward we don't forget that as we observe these memorials.