Happy MLK Day

Every year on Martin Luther King Day I'm reminded that over 40 years ago a guy from my hometown was approached about assassinating MLK. Well, he lived in Tennessee at the time, moved to my town later on to raise a family, but still. I remember hearing this story and it's freaky - is there anything more sinister than being approached by someone to execute someone else? Is there a more chilling word in the English language than "execution"? Anyways, I went all the way through school with this girl, and after graduation she started dating a good friend of mine, and she told him the story. When he was a young buck in Tennessee, he was known as someone who would not mind there being fewer black people around, apparently. after mulling the offer he declined, saying that he eventually wanted to raise a family et al. A side note, the girl I'm talking about ended up finding out at the age of 23 that one her best friends since first grade was actually her sister. I love small towns!!

But really, how much of a renowned racist do you have to be to get picked for something like this? How do you become THAT famous for hating black people? And we're talking about the mountains of Tennessee in the 1960's; it's not like he was the author of gottstakillmesomekiggahs.blogspot.com, right? Unreal. "Oh, Frank? From Lafayette? Oh yeah, I heard of him, he's good....he's real good. Is he ready for The Show? Let's see..." Real Atticus stuff here.