Will they tear down statues of Martin Luther King Jr. now?

It has long been rumored that civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. was a deeply flawed human being who engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior, but that has not diminished King’s stature as a history-changing figure who increased liberty for millions of people.

Now, however, a King biographer who is a member of the Democratic Socialist Party, has written of disturbing evidence that King not only engaged in extramarital sex, but also listened and encouraged as a colleague raped a female parishioner.

Supposedly the FBI secretly taped King and his associates in a hotel room in January 1964. The tapes are being held in the National Archives until 2027, but author David Garrow was able to gain access to FBI summaries of the tapes and presumably other incidents involving King. Garrow won the Pulitzer Prize for his 1986 book, “Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.”

According to the Daily Mail, “Writing in British magazine Standpoint, Garrow says that the shocking files could lead to a ‘painful historical reckoning’ for the man who is celebrated across the world for his campaign against racial injustice.”

Here are more graphic details from the Mail’s report:

“The shocking files claim that King watched on and laughed while his pastor friend raped a parishioner

“The recording from the Willard Hotel near the White House shows how King was accompanied his friend Logan Kearse, the pastor of Baltimore’s Cornerstone Baptist church who died in 1991, along with several female parishioners of his church.

“In King’s hotel room, the files claim they then ‘discussed which women among the parishioners would be suitable for natural and unnatural sex acts’.

“The FBI document says: ‘When one of the women protested that she did not approve, the Baptist minister immediately and forcefully raped her’ as King watched.

“He is alleged to have ‘looked on, laugh and offered advice’ during the encounter.

“FBI agents were in the room next door but did not intervene.

“The following day, King and a dozen others allegedly participated in a ‘sex orgy’ engaging in ‘acts of degeneracy and depravity’.

“When one woman showed reluctance, King was allegedly heard saying that performing the act ‘would help your soul’.”

If true, this will put to the test the Democrats’ position of no-tolerance for misbehavior among historical figures. Over the past several years, numerous statues have been torn down across the country as people have become aware that such historically significant people as Thomas Jefferson were also flawed human beings.

It sounds like King was more flawed than usual. How will the progressive left react? Denial? Projection? Anger? Will they tear down his statues?

I for one am happy to thank King for his contributions to American society. If he was flawed, so was President Kennedy, so was Thomas Jefferson, so was George Washington. So indeed were all historical figures except Jesus. The good and the bad have to be weighed against each other. We cannot pretend that people are perfect.

But if the Democrats give MLK a pass, but continue to tear down statues of Jefferson and others, then they will be exposed as hypocritical fools.