I only do that when the editorial perfectly covers what need be said.

Our Heritage, to the Highest Bidder

Americans would be rightly outraged to learn that the newly discovered papers of, say, Washington, Jefferson or Lincoln were being sold at auction to someone who might bar the general public from using them for research purposes, or even eventually sell them off piece by piece as curiosities. They should be just as worried about the impending auction of thousands of documents from the personal papers of Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King was perhaps the most important American of the last half of the 20th century, the figure who played a pivotal role in the movement for social justice that transformed the nation. He was also the symbol of the great moral challenge of American history — the heritage of slavery and the issue of race.

It is astonishing that the United States celebrates Dr. King's birthday with a national holiday but has failed to make sure his papers were placed at a research institution where they would have remained open to public use. But the King family — which has too often placed profit and family control above the national interests — is said to have discouraged such a university sale by imposing undue restrictions on the papers that would have remained in effect even after the documents were sold.

This unfortunate chain of events has led to the auction block at Sotheby's in New York, which has scheduled a sale of more 7,000 items from the King papers, including the manuscript of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, on June 30. The King children owe it to their father's legacy to change their minds. Failing that, we can only hope that whoever buys the collection recognizes its immense historical value and preserves unfettered public access in perpetuity. If not, an important window into Dr. King's life during his most active years could well be closed forever.

I'd like to see it in the hands of an HBCU for symbolic reasons, but Dr. Spence is right...at the moment, none of them could handle it.

In a human level, I understand what's up. I felt a considerable amount of bitterness toward my father as a child; he had two jobs to support a large family, which meant he had little time for us and he was often tired and cranky when he did have that time. But I didn't know that as a child. I just knew he wasn't Ward Cleaver. I can imagine Dr. King's family felt that, but raised a couple of powers. And I know it's hard to be a saint but it's harder to be the child of a saint. It's hard to see folks less talented and passionate than your father rake in the dough. If Dr. King did the prosperity gospel thing his family would make T.D. Jakes look like a poser. This being America, you can't help but have such thoughts.

But this stuff is national history, national treasure. At minimum it should be bought by the Library of Congress, or the Smithsonian. I think El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz' stuff belong in there too, right beside Dr. King's work. Black folks are best represented by an equal fusion of their work. That's my opinion, anyway...