Time Magazine has a fascinating story on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last days. One of the most interesting tidbits is found buried in the middle of the article:

(King Attorney Stanley) Levison confided afterward on his wiretapped phone. “He criticized three members of the staff with his eloquence. And believe me, that’s murder. And was very negative.� King said Young had given in to doubt, Bevel to brains, and (Jesse) Jackson to ambition. He said they had forgotten the simple truths of witness. He said the movement had made them, and now they were using the movement to promote themselves.

Jesse Jackson given to ambition? Using Civil rights as only a vehicle to self-promotion. Jesse Jackson? Gasp! King was a flawed man, as the article revealed, but in addition to his incredible courage, he could read people and he could read where some of these Civil Rights leaders were going to lead the movement and the country. Jackson would prove King correct. Sixteen years later, he'd be a Presidential candidate. In 1977, he'd write eloquently against abortion in the Rightto Life News only to jettison his pro-life position to win the votes of pro-choice Whites in 1984. Jackson has used his position as a Civil Rights spokesman for personal financial enhancement and cronyism.

Whereas Dr. King dreamed of world where, All God's children could join hands, Jackson has thrived on racial disharmony and anger. Never has one man been given so much opportunity and wasted it.