Primary reflections

This week, the State of New York holds its presidential primaries.  Living in Albany, the state capital, I could have attended rallies featuring the five remaining Presidential candidates.  As neither main Party has settled on a candidate, for the first time in four decades, the NY primary is late in the season yet now a hot ticket for candidates seeking all important delegates prior to their respective national convention.  Of course, this does not guarantee success, as floor fights have been bandied about in political spin.

Around this time forty years ago, a Baptist minister penned a searing letter commenting on his era's tumult.  Perhaps a bit of time travel back to Birmingham Alabama might give us some insight on what sort of word is needed sorely in American political discourse.

I invite you to read afresh The Letter from Birminham Jail, written by Martin Luther King, Jr., and ponder what these words would say to us in the midst of these days.  Click this link to see a pdf of a typewritten early version held by Stanford University's special archives:

http://okra.stanford.edu/transcription/document_images/undecided/630416-019.pdf