User:Darwinatdawn96

Darwinatdawn96 (talk) 19:42, 21 April 2014 (UTC)Ellinger's claim to have been MLK's bodyguard has been previously challenged here, but never verified. This unverified, dubious claim is now all over the internet, repeatedly stating a very unlikely occurrence, without independent proof, such as days, times, places, witnesses, other people present, circumstances. Those who knew Ellinger well knew he was unlikely to really risk his own skin to protect anyone, let alone Dr King. It is most unlikely that Dr King would have put his life at risk by depending on a Rory Ellinger for protection. That Ellinger suddenly 'recalled' his being a 'bodyguard to MLK' when he sought political office in 2010 was shameful and dishonorable. Previously, his only claim to fame was having helped to build a stage/platform on which Dr King once gave a speech. His sudden 'recalled memory' is extremely doubtful. Also, Ellinger was raised in a very conservative, almost fundamentalist, Catholic family. His mother, a Protestant, had a short political career before descending into irreversible mental illness in 1963. Ellinger was born in 1941; his father died in 1967; his mother in 1968, so he was not '24' upon their early deaths. Which Krogers and Woolworth's was it? There was no lunch counter at a Woolworths' in Old Orchard Webster Groves where Ellinger lived. Actually, there were very very few 'colored people' in Webster Groves in the 1950s, and certainly no picketing. Holy Redeemer, the local Catholic grade school, was totally segregated and white and Bishop deBourgh high school was predominately white. The only 'black' people in his family home were rare domestic cleaning 'girls' and a family cook of Ellinger's grandfather. It was generally agreed within his family that 'colored people' should know and stay 'in their place.' Ellinger's father did not approve or support his son's alarming radical civil rights views, and was not proud that his son thought getting arrested and having a police record was going to help him get a real job in the future. Ellinger took financial handouts from his father long after he should have been supporting himself, as a mature, responsible adult. Because he was 4F for military service he had to do something to 'prove his manhood' and the civil rights movement presented itself to him as a convenient, ready-made, alternative to real, true heroic service in the military. He was a great help to the vulnerable and disempowered, but only if he liked you or approved of your politics. He was rabidly, verbally abusive to members of his own family who did not live the way he thought they should, according to his offensively rude and radical politics. This man was no hero, although he did help some people, but mostly almost everything he did was in service to his huge, hubristic ego. He always loved the limelight and being the center of attention. Holding forth in a courtroom or on the House floor, he just loved the attention, even if the attention was negative, which made him feel like a martyr. I submit this not out of malice, but respect for Wiki readers and contributors. Ellinger was a keen political image-maker and not above manipulating and exaggerating the facts, for his own egocentric reasons. I regret if all this causes offence, but someone has to come forward and challenge untruths. All this from 100% personal experience, first-hand witness.