And the Atlanta Braves Would Not Exist If Not for MLK, Jr.

Taylor Branch has an outstanding op-ed this morning on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s true contributions and vilification, on the extinction of non-violence, and on the "neglected" study of the connections between power and violence. The whole thing is well worth your time, but here's sample:

Democratic balance has slept for 40 years, and we face a world like Rip Van Winkle run backward. We wake up blinking at Tiger Woods, Condoleezza Rice and Barack Obama, while our government demands arbitrary rule by secrecy, conquest and dungeons. King George III seems reborn.

Please resist any partisan connotation. Our problem is far too big for that. Indeed, I think the most pressing challenge for admirers of Dr. King is to recognize our own complicity in the stifling myths about civil rights history. Battered, long-suffering allies of Dr. King discarded him as a tired moderate long before the reactionary campaign to make the word “liberal” a kiss of death for candidates across the country.