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In Memory and Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I hope we all take a few minutes today to reacquaint ourselves with the extraordinary wisdom, vision and passion of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Some of my favorites:

  • I've Been to the Mountaintop: April 3, 1968. Dr. King's last speech, the day before his assassination, in support of the striking Memphis sanitation workers.

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    Happy (observed) Birthday Dr. King (none / 0) (#1)
    by andgarden on Sun Jan 20, 2008 at 10:37:23 PM EST


    Happy Birthday (none / 0) (#2)
    by athyrio on Sun Jan 20, 2008 at 10:55:10 PM EST
    Dr. King...I was a young woman during those days and was fortunate enough to observe alot of it....You truly moved mountains.....

    39 (none / 0) (#4)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 01:31:58 AM EST
    All that and never made it to 40. Those who realize their purpose when they're still young are rare.

    Thanks for these texts, Jeralyn... (none / 0) (#6)
    by dutchfox on Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 05:36:42 AM EST
    ... especially the sermon from Riverside Church.
    A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look easily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: " This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

    America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from re-ordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.



    Another ex-gay minister endorses Obama (none / 0) (#7)
    by JoeCHI on Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 06:36:36 AM EST
    Another ex-gay minister endorses Obama:

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/5469706.html

    Caldwell heads a ministry, METANOIA, that runs a "de-gayifying" program for youth.

    http://www.kingdombuilders.com/templates/cuskingdombuilders/default.asp?id=23260


    Back and forth could help Obama (none / 0) (#8)
    by ElectoPundit on Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 06:45:06 AM EST
    ElectoPundit: Back and Forth Could Help Obama

    Many are trying to envision where this Democratic campaign could be headed. The most common theme and most consistent message from voters so far seems to be this: we like both of these candidates for various reasons, and we want to consider them carefully and on our own terms... don't pressure us into taking one of them before we're ready and if you do, we'll vote for the underdog.

    This campaign could be divided into three phases until now. There was the "Clinton frontrunner" phase up until just before Iowa, and then after Iowa the 2nd phase was the very short "Obama Frontrunner" phase. After New Hampshire it was perhaps a "dead heat, no frontrunner" phase that I think may now be ending. If we're back into a "Clinton frontrunner" phase again... what does that mean for the campaign? Will Hillary and Bill wither under the spotlight?

    Look at the behavior of the voters so far:

    Everyone said if Hillary won Iowa, it was over, they voted for Obama.

    Everyone said if Obama won New Hampshire, it was over, they voted for Clinton.

    The Clintons and the media tried to say Obama should win Nevada because the culinary union was pressuring members, the members felt the pressure and they resisted, they voted for Clinton.

    So where is that conventional wisdom/media dialogue going decisively after Nevada? I think the current line is: "the Clintons are inevitable, Obama may win in South Carolina, but that's just the African-American vote, she's going to win big on February 5th." There's going to be two and a half weeks of this dialogue again in the press for the first time since before Iowa. If Obama had won Nevada and South Carolina, the "dead heat" phase would have continued. But Nevada shifts that, and I think this has significant potential to swing the race back in Obama's favor.

    One thing is clear, the focus for the next two weeks will be on Hillary Clinton, what type of presidency she would have, what Bill's role would be, their marital issues, etc. February 5th will now fundamentally be a referendum on her and it could be a decision too big for either candidate to come back from as they have had the ability to do so far in this campaign.

    Remembering Dr. King... (none / 0) (#9)
    by eddeevy on Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 07:11:33 AM EST
    This morning I found myself thinking about the first time I came to know of Dr. Martin Luther King. I had arrived in the early Sixties as a young Irishman in Bible Belt country (North Louisiana). One of the first things I noticed was the large roadside billboards claiming to show King attending a meeting of the Communist Party.

    It would be difficult for people who are not familiar with what was happening at that time in the Deep South to fully understand the hatred and bigotry directed towards Dr. King. I was not one bit surprised when I heard that he had been shot in Memphis, Tennessee.

    I can well understand why the African American community would be defensive about any statement that seemed to diminish the contribution of Dr.King...even if that statement came from someone who is considered a friend of the African American community. Put simply, Dr. King put his life on the line.

    A giant of a man (none / 0) (#10)
    by Saul on Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 09:47:07 AM EST
    I am glad I lived through this era and at the same time I regret what I saw.   In my life time I have witnessed very special people who were willing to risk their lives for their beliefs.  Beliefs that were to right injustices.  The two Kennedy's and Mr. King were killed because the establishment feared they would upset the status quo. The protest against Vietnam  was the revolution that I thought would be the end of any more manufactured wars.  I was wrong.  Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican revolutionary figure had a saying, "Mejor morir de pie que vivir de rodillas. "I rather die standing than live my life on my knees"   Here is the video on Martin speech " I Have I Dream"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAKnMLPus1M

    The dream of DR. King (none / 0) (#11)
    by talkingpoint on Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 12:20:53 PM EST
      have made progress, but the dream will be fully entact when the stereotypes associated with Blacks are eliminated. It will be realized when society comes to the realization that poverty creates crime, poverty creates low self-esteem, that poverty correlates with high school dropout among black youths, that poverty creates stress, that poverty and hopelessness will make one believe that they are not apart of the main stream society. If one believes that they are not apart of the main stream, one can easily be influence to rebel against the laws of the main stream. Before one judge another based on their ethnicity again, one should first examine the studies that have been conducted to show how poverty correlates with the negative effects of society. We as a society must finally realize that if we combat poverty we will eliminate many of the effects associated with it. we should never blame the individual, rather blame poverty.

    The question isnt whether (none / 0) (#12)
    by jondee on Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 04:09:47 PM EST
    the jackdaws of the Right would still be swiftboating "that communist" King today, it's whether or not there are any untapped regions left at the bottom of the sewer for them to dredge
    after the last forty years. We'll probobly find out later this year.

    May I suggest a different link or two (none / 0) (#13)
    by Daniel Millstone on Tue Jan 22, 2008 at 01:09:15 PM EST
    for Dr. King's Speech at Riverside Church?

    The one you are using cuts out some of the text. Try this one instead which I believe is the full written text or this one which has an audio file and transcript of the speech as delivered.