Symbols are very very important. Think of the Cross and the Torah.
Peoples die in order to protect their symbols from desecration and profanation and ridicule.
For those Americans who have not forgotten their history Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the single most important American human rights leader of the past century. He moved a nation from an era of incredible racial economic and political injustice to one of greater racial justice and sensitivity. Dr. King did this by an appeal to the conscience of the American people and moved us to change without the widespread bloodshed that such radical revolutions usually involve. He is for Black and White people alike THE 20th Century American symbol for racial justice. The recent attempt by City Councilor Maurice Cox, musician John McCutcheon and civil rights leader Rev. Henry Silva to name an important roadway in Charlottesville for Dr. King is a symbolic act to draw our attention to a sea change in our history and to the leader who made the most difference in that change.