Tuesday, January 15, 2008

According to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, "it took a president," namely Lyndon B. Johnson, to accomplish an important goal of Martin Luther King Jr.'s, namely passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ["Clinton's King Comment 'Ill-Advised,' Obama Says," front page, Jan. 14].

Ms. Clinton fails to give King credit where credit is due. This, indeed, sounds more like a "fairy tale" to me. Yes, Johnson ultimately signed the Civil Rights Act, but King's rousing speeches, his organization of the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott, and all of his nonviolent protests and arrests were obviously more than words. They laid the groundwork for a sea of civil rights change in America.

If it wasn't for King, Rosa Parks and numerous other civil rights activists from that era, the country and the president would not have been so primed for legislative action.

JENNIFER WOLFF

Bowie

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Our democracy is in trouble if those citizens who criticize our invasion of Iraq can be labeled anti-American, those who criticize Israeli policies can be called anti-Semitic and those who criticize Sen. Barack Obama can be accused of racism.

J. SRI RAM

Rockville