Lonzie Cox – 4/19/06

This page was last updated on April 19, 2006.

What might have been; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; April 19, 2006. I am not related to Mr. Cox.

I guess Mr. Cox couldn’t take the pressure any longer. Before this letter, he went three in a row in which race wasn’t an underlying theme. <g>

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The Revs. Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham both exploded on the world scene in the mid-1950s.

“King’s fame resulted from his well-known leadership of the Montgomery Bus boycott. Graham attracted the attention of William Randolph Hearst and Henry Luce, two powerful publishers who liked his message of Christianity and anti-communism during the Cold War, and promoted his ministry.”

[RWC] It probably doesn’t matter, but I don’t know about the alleged connection between Graham, Hearst, and Luce. A quick Google search showed the only mention of this in connection with a book written by Ben Bagdikian (“The Media Monopoly”).

“April 4 was the 38th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King who I respected for his bravery and the changes he helped bring about in American race relations.

“I also respected Dr. Graham and attended his crusade at Three Rivers Stadium in about 1993. I observed how much control he had over the 40,000 people in attendance and how they hung on his every word.

“It was then that I realized how Graham could have helped King in his mission if he (Graham) had chosen to. In fact, he conceivably could have lessened the dangers King had to face by reaching out to him in a meaningful public way.”

[RWC] Translation: White guy Billy Graham was partially responsible for Mr. King’s murder.

This letter is an example of the victim mentality of people like Mr. Cox. If Mr. Graham didn’t reach out to Mr. King, why didn’t Mr. King reach out to Mr. Graham? When you sit around waiting for someone to help you, you’re going to sit for a very long time.

“Graham had the moral force and the presidential political connections to have made a difference in the stark and dangerous social chaos of that time. When I watch Graham still crusading, I wonder what King would be doing now and what they could have done together. We will never know.”

[RWC] Mr. King wasn’t exactly a lightweight. Lest we forget, Mr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.