They honor MLK but don't heed his advice

On this, the fifth day of Black History Month 2009, AP is reporting that a school in Hemstead, NY has officially changed it's name to Barack Obama Elementary School.

There is a reason for not naming schools, buildings, roads, and other projects for living, or at least still in office, politicians. And that is if it is discovered that they did something criminal, wrong, or just plain stupid, the location won't have to be renamed. And if his first few weeks in office are any indication of what is to come they mind find themselves changing the school's name before the paint dries.

In this case the school was renamed in his honor when the only feat he has accomplished is to be elected President... 43 other men have achieved that honor and while most have facilities named after them the honor was bestowed after accomplishing more than winning the election, and the vast majority were awarded after the President left office.

School officials credit the students with the idea of renaming the school. Which is alarming in and of itself that the school officials abdicated control and went along with such a dubious idea. They had an excellent chance to teach the children that such honors should be reserved for those who accomplish something.

Yet I fear that the school officials, like this student, believe he has accomplished something:
Nine-year-old Emily Philbert, who dreams of becoming a doctor, says her classmates felt it was important to honor Obama "because now we finally have our first African-American president. Since I'm an African-American girl myself, that's a huge honor."

19 days ago the country commemorated the birthday of Martin Luther King, who was a person worthy of the honors that have been bestowed upon him. One of his most memorable quotes spoke to judging men by their accomplishments, not their skin color.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of
their character."
- Martin Luther King

And yet a scant 2 and a half weeks after MLK's birthday, and in the first week of Black History Month, when the lessons of Martin Luther King should be remembered the most, a school was renamed to honor a man solely because of the color of his skin.

Martin Luther King never wanted to be remembered as a black man, just a man. Frank Robinson was proud of his accomplishments as a baseball player, not as a black baseball player. Jesse Owens was proud of his Olympic medals, earned not because he was black, but because he was a great athlete.

The school had a real opportunity to teach a tangible lesson to their students, look at a person, not at their skin. Instead they taught the children it is acceptable to define people by their skin color.