The Condolences For 5/20/14: More Than Just A Speech Writer

Vincent Harding (1931-2014) (Eternal -....)

One of America's most underrated went up above the sky yesterday. Vincent Harding was more than just the man who wrote MLK's Vietnam. He was his own venerable Civil Rights figure who should have never fallen off the list of renown black figures.

Maybe moving to Colorado and no longer being apart of the Harlem community he grew up helped contribute to his lack of deserved recognition? Or just maybe in the still myopic, waterdown perspective of black history in a commercial form for this community that Harding became less than an alterthought in the mainstream conscious: He barely garnered even a single thought.

Either way, it is paramount that some time and some space be taken out in tribute to an unsung soul like Harding.

As pious of a Christian as they come (with holding up Christian values instead of being intrusive and antagonizing), Harding's tenure across the country in many storied universities exhibited the depth of knowledge he had. You don't get the privilege to teach at the likes of UPenn, Temple, Spelman and Swarthmore to name a few, and not have a certain level of gravitas.

That gravitas was prevalent in this great member of SCLC, SNCC, and CORE, making it vital to always remember Vincent Harding.

It is the least the general public can do since we certainly weren't doing that when he was on this Earth.