What Would Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Have Said About Trump’s Response To Rep. Lewis’ ‘Legitimate’ President Remarks? [Opinion]

Ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2017, I ponder this question: What if history could be manipulated?

Freedom of speech is a powerful tool the Founding Fathers bestowed on every American citizen to even the playing field and provoke healthy debate on prevailing issues. At times, a person’s opinion — whether terse or protracted — can either resonate positively or come off as inflammatory and divisive.

The best example of the latter is Donald Trump.

The president-elect showed his notoriously thin skin by responding in an assiduous manner to a comment by a legendary icon of the Civil Rights Movement — Congressman John Lewis, as the Inquisitr reported previously.

Using Twitter as a bully pulpit, Trump took umbrage and castigated Lewis, not on the merits of his opinion about the president-elect’s legitimacy. Instead, he deflected on Lewis’ Georgia district.

“All talk and no action,” Trump retorted, a phrase you’ve likely heard before when proponents of free speech criticize the real estate mogul.

“Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results.”

I know I am, but what are you?

USA Today wrote that a number of lawmakers have pledged to skip the inauguration after his harsh and asinine comments about Rep. Lewis.

My guess is that Trump, after having time to absorb the enormity of his presidential-less comments — and his surrogates having run out of patience or excuses for his brusque remarks — will follow the pattern of denial. He’ll likely offer a half-cocked apology, deflect the controversy on Hillary and Obama somehow or simply say his comments were taken out of context.

Further, if the past is any indicator of the future, Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s de-facto apologist, will face the press and offer another ripsnorter: “Listen to his heart, not what comes out of his mouth.”

Somehow, Conway wants us to grade Trump on a curve and dismiss his 140 characters as tough love — as if by chance scores of others have misread his heart. Early on, the public fell for the lack of verbal dexterity and blamed it on his Washington-outsider-non-politician disposition.

After Trump’s rapid-fire misogynist, sexist and racial bias-strewn comments towards Muslims, those on the fence became wiser and smarter. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck — you do the math.

Listen to his heart, she says.

Fair enough, but this is America and being “presidential” is the hallmark of the office’s mystique and reverence. But let’s drill down a bit, and if you’re playing along with this hypothetical “what if” game at home, imagine for a moment how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would react to Trump’s verbosity.

The former Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate is known for his pragmatism and non-violent approach to conflict resolution. Still, I ponder how the innermost realm of Dr. King (the off-duty-nobody-is-looking-and-listening Dr. King) would react to Trump’s lambasting of Rep. John Lewis.

As much as it would be fitting for King to step out of character and give Trump a tongue-lashing by using his oratory skills to pummel the incoming leader of the free world, I’m inclined to believe the Baptist minister would take the high road. Creating a far-reaching hypothetical about such a hallowed figure in our nation’s history would mar history.

King would opt for the sublime, to be sure. It was in his nature.

Chances are that Dr. King would simply offer a prayer for our nation’s leader. He’d then petition for a meet and greet to formulate dialogue around building bridges — not walls.

King, according to Bio, was “precocious,” but “unmotivated” during his freshman and sophomore years at Morehouse College. His father was a strict disciplinarian who forbade snobbery and airs of class supremacy. Still, he couldn’t camouflage his kids from the ugly grip of racism.

Somehow, King endured.

Young Martin, like any other person coming of age, would likely have a better chance at skewering the Donald Trump of today. However, his rebellion would have only lasted for a short spell; he was called to the pulpit in his junior year in college.

Adult Martin would not fall for the “look-away-there’s-nothing-to-see-here” advice and neither should former undecided voters who are now suffering from buyer’s remorse. Nor should world leaders fall for the banana in the tailpipe trick.

For a man who believed bigotry was an indignation to God’s will, fighting Trump on his level with estranging rhetoric only returns fire without extinguishing it. For a man who endured 382 days of the Montgomery bus boycott after Rosa Parks’ arrest for not giving up her seat to a white man, patience with Trump’s Twitter-fits would be King’s course. For a man who turned the other cheek when struck, gingerly wiped his face when spat on, and was jailed for trying to let freedom ring, Trump’s outbursts would likely strengthen Dr. King’s resolve.

Lastly, for a man who had a dream, it would only be a matter of time before history would show that time heals all wounds, even those festering just below the surface of mediocrity.

King’s supplication for love in the face of hate, valor in the place of fear and humility in the face of indignation is how history would read — no matter how it’s penned.

[Featured Image by Drew Angere/Reg Lancaster/Express/Getty Images]