Every black person apprehended for robbing stores in a flash mob
should have their court hearing not in front of a judge but
facing the 30-foot statute of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at his
Washington memorial site . Each thief should be asked, “What do
you think Dr. King would say to you right now?” I was not angry
when I initially saw the news footage of young blacks robbing
convenience stores across America; I was brought to tears. In
fact, as we approach the dedication of Dr. King’s memorial we
may all need to take a closer look at his chiseled stone face
for the presence of tears. Tears like the one shed by Native
American actor Chief Iron Eyes Cody in the 1970s public service
announcement about pollution. The historic PSA shows the Native
American shedding a tear after surveying the pollution in an
America that previously had none. It ended with the tagline,
"People start pollution. People can stop it." If Dr. King were
alive today he might proclaim, perhaps with tears, that “people
start flash mobs. Pe