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THE HUTCHINSON REPORT: The Comparison of Ken Lay to Martin Luther King, Jr.

(July 13, 2006)

In an impassioned funeral oration at a memorial service on Tuesday, July 11, for former Enron head, and convicted corporate offender, Ken Lay, the Rev. Bill Lawson, prominent pastor of the African-American Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, said Lay was the "victim of a lynching."

Lawson didn’t stop there. He compared Lay’s colossal legal battles and media abuse to the suffering of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Should African-Americans, indeed all those who revere the name and the prodigious battles Dr. King fought for justice and equality, be offended by this comparison?

This comparison was made by a black minister no less. Lay was convicted on multiple counts of fraud and theft. That cost stockholders millions in asset losses. Thousands of employees lost there jobs and pensions. The Enron thievery resulted in monumental personal suffering. Yet Lawson blithely made the Lay-King comparison.

What would you say to Reverend Lawson about his comparison of Lay to King? Give him your thoughts. See The Hutchinson Report for Reverend Lawson’s fax, phone number and email address.

While at the Hutchinson Report, scroll down on the lower right and side for the poll that asks the question: "Are You Offended That a Black Minister Would Compare Ken Lay to Dr. King?"

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The late Ken Lay at his trial