The civil rights movement of the day is always compared to some idealized civil rights movement of the past to disqualify it in the eyes of the anti-progressive. They focus on the wrong issues, they lack focus, they&#x27;re too loud and annoying, they&#x27;re not grateful enough for advances thus far, etc.<p>Seeing how he&#x27;s idealized into an impossible standard for activists today, it&#x27;s cool looking at the correspondence MLK Jr. got back in the day (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thekingcenter.org&#x2F;archive&#x2F;theme&#x2F;4809" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thekingcenter.org&#x2F;archive&#x2F;theme&#x2F;4809</a>). Here are some samples:<p>&gt; Mr. Young criticizes Dr. King and the black community for their support of heavyweight champion Cassius Clay&#x27;s refusal to be drafted into the military. He also expresses worry about the quality of black leadership and urges a move from a selfish focus on Negroes only to concern for all people.<p>&gt; Calling Dr. King &quot;The Trouble Maker of the United States,&quot; Mrs. Shaw criticizes Dr. King&#x27;s methods in the Civil Rights Movement. She argues that a &quot;campaign of love is in order&quot; rather than demonstrations.<p>&gt; Harl Douglass writes in disgust at the position Dr. King has taken on Vietnam War. As a once full supporter of the civil rights movement, he believes that Dr. King &quot;is somewhat unstable and he has made millions of enemies for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.....&quot; Douglass warns Dr. King and SCLC officials that if they continue to go down the same track they will lose support of white moderates.