MLK

A small and obviously idiotic effort to sow discord and animosity recently may point to an affirmation of  success on this day that remembers Martin Luther King.

In a discussion about legal immigrants bringing their extended families into the U.S., a loophole known as "chain migration," (the bringing of a "chain" of people,) Senator Durban said this:  “Do you realize how painful that term is to so many people? African Americans believe that they migrated to America in chains. And when you speak about ‘chain migration’ it hurts them personally.”

This, of course, is simply made up out of whole cloth. Yet however twisted this may be, it is not the simple stupid albeit tender banning of words like "Niggardly," or books like  "Huck Finn." Or mindless albeit desperate symbolic acts like attacking statues. Or the blatant albeit ill-informed falsification of history like the Ferguson killing. Rather it is the creation of an empty calumny past its time, the declaration of something because of its very absence.

It is the confession of a thing's obverse, something King would probably see as a sign of progress.