MLK

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musical marv

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Feb 26, 2011
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On January 21 we celebrate a great man who died for peace and humanity MLK. Let us remember him and never forget these words he said DARKNESS CANNOT PUT OUT DARKNESS ONLY LIGHT CAN DO THIS.These words will live on forever.
 
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!3

 


Unfortunately they always kill those making the biggest changes for the better in our country!

It seems only the puppets survive!

Ryan
 
To bad many politicians today can't take the attitude of this great man.I wonder if he was alive today and saw what was going on in this convoluted world what he would think?
 
I would think hed want people to be more constructive, and less destructive.
I would think he would ask people to think in Gods terms, and grace and forgiveness.
Basically, like he did when alive, just more so today
 
Its why he had to die.
When great people shine too much light for corruption to lurk and hide, the light is often put out.
Ive seen threats made on a great many people, but seldom really carried out.
They couldnt afford him around.
Dont get me started on these "people", as here, they took a great man, and have done other atrocities
 
I wish MLK Jr was alive today, at least then we wouldn't have Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton borrowing his authority to be the "leaders" of civil rights. If MLK Jr was alive today, he would have prevented the progressives from perverting his vision and desire for true equality under the law. I honestly believe that Political Correctness never would have taken hold because he would have called it for the divisive rhetoric it is.

Nothing worse than a self-hating white progressive pushing a political agenda using the name of MLK Jr as a false sense of authority.
 
Rather than criticize, simply show me instances of conservatives exploiting MLK Jrs legacy of equality under the law.

Dr. King believed in the principles of America's founding. He preached man made law that squared with moral law and the law of God. Dr. King promoted civil responsibility and individual freedom. Dr. King promoted moral character as the center of our social interactions and at the center of our self-government. Using today's terms, Dr. King's beliefs would be considered faith-based, something progressives excoriated President Bush for promoting.

I honestly doubt that you will find a conservative organization exploiting Dr. King to raise money for something that Dr. King himself, as quoted by his Niece, would be against.

Planned Parenthood Exploits Martin Luther King for Donation Event
 
I would take Laveda Kings worlds with just a small grain of salt ... She really lost it when she tried to sue Eddie Murphy for stealing her script of "Coming to America". I mean its not like MLK didnt accept an award from Planned Parenthood :sarcastic:

Here are your examples:

Glenn Becks Tea Party rally on MLK's birthday.....?

This guy

I just find it odd that the FIRST thing you do when someone posts a remembrance for MLK you turn immediately to what you consider "Progressives" and begin to accuse them of perverting Kings legacy.
 



You just can't stop can you?
 
Oh the irony. Which is why I guess you put the sarcastic emoticon. Because the irony of Planned Parenthood awarding Dr. King with an award named after Margaret Sanger is absolutely palpable. To be honest, I knew that Planned Parenthood gave Dr. King that award, which is actually why I cited the Planned Parenthood article. Claiming that Margaret Sanger was a humanitarian on the level with Dr. King is the epitome perverting a vision. A known eugenicist compared to a promoter of non-violent civil disobedience as a means to implement social change; never the twain shall meet. But, they somehow shoe-horned them together...oh, the irony...

Firstly, I am not a fan of Glenn Beck, so please do not think I am saying this for otherwise. But I would debate the intent and purpose of the Restoring Honor rally. All reports and articles I read about it from last year were quite positive and had little criticism of the rally; the worst that MSNBC could criticize was his "attempt to hijack attention from "real" tributes to Dr. King being given by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Although, I do remember hearing Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson during their concurrent rallies sounding very hateful towards Glen Beck.

See, now you confused me with this one. I didn't think that a black man could exploit another black man. Is it possible? I mean, if a black man can use the "N" word towards another black man without it being racist then I am not sure a black man can exploit Dr. King for trying to get people to vote Republican; aside from the fact that Dr. King was apolitical. But, I don't know the social rules when it comes to situations like this and I don't want to be labeled a racist.

Well, I wasn't targeting "progressives" on the whole insomuch as the self-hating white progressives. Let's be honest about this though, how many white people do you know that have lived with generations of "white guilt" to the point where they loath their own racial legacy. I know I'm not the only one who knows people like this. It's absolutely nauseating! I am personal friends with a few card carrying liberals who actually despise their own status in life because of progressive rhetoric that tells them they owe the black man for generations of social inequality. Have you ever listened to an inner city upper class hipster who laments the fact that she owns a BMW and lives in a very nice Brownstone but the poor kids who live three blocks away are subjected to gun violence and (her quote) "horrid living conditions"? But then, in the next moment, rant about how Washington and Jefferson owned slaves and blame them for today's social inequality, rant about how black people should be given preferential treatment over white people because of it, and then lament how she wishes there was something she could do to make herself feel better about the social injustice she sees everyday at her job as a Social Worker. Does she donate time or money to the local church, food shelter, YMCA, or the Boys/Girls Club? No friggin' way, she wouldn't be caught in THAT neighborhood!

 
In 1967, Colorado became the first state to legalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, or in which pregnancy would lead to permanent physical disability of the woman. Similar laws were passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. In 1970, Hawaii became the first state to legalize abortions on the request of the mother,[7] and New York repealed its 1830 law and allowed abortions up to the 24th week of pregnancy. Similar laws were soon passed in Alaska and Washington. A law in Washington, DC, which allowed abortion to protect the life or health of the woman, was challenged in the Supreme Court in 1971 in United States v. Vuitch. The court upheld the law, deeming that "health" meant "psychological and physical well-being," essentially allowing abortion in Washington, DC. By the end of 1972, 13 states had a law similar to that of Colorado, while Mississippi allowed abortion in cases of rape or incest only and Alabama and Massachusetts allowed abortions only in cases where the womans's physical health was endangered. In order to obtain abortions during this period, women would often travel from a state where abortion was illegal to states where it was legal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States
First, lets align history correctly.
Dr King wasnt a Catholic, and did believe in birth control obviously.
Planned parenthood was there to help get birth control, find other methods etc.


September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood. Sanger's efforts contributed to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case which legalized contraception in the United States. Sanger is a frequent target of criticism by opponents of birth control and has also been criticized for supporting eugenics, but remains an iconic figure in the American reproductive rights movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger

Now, in 1966, how is this being attributed here?
What was isnt the same as what is now
 

 
Ignore history, as it fits you.
The inclusion of Dr Kings acceptance of the award is a tilted and twisted show of history, and simply doesnt apply today as it did back then.
Back then, mere birth control was was not a socially accepted way.
Condoms were under the counter, and the pill wasnt legal.
Abortion was against the law, and Dr King wasnt and didnt refer to it in any of his responses, so connecting the two are disingenuous at best, and a poor attempt by those who simply dont know history.
 
by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Recently, the press has been filled with reports of sightings of flying saucers. While we need not give credence to these stories, they allow our imagination to speculate on how visitors from outer space would judge us. I am afraid they would be stupefied at our conduct. They would observe that for death planning we spend billions to create engines and strategies for war. They would also observe that we spend millions to prevent death by disease and other causes. Finally they would observe that we spend paltry sums for population planning, even though its spontaneous growth is an urgent threat to life on our planet. Our visitors from outer space could be forgiven if they reported home that our planet is inhabited by a race of insane men whose future is bleak and uncertain.

There is no human circumstance more tragic than the persisting existence of a harmful condition for which a remedy is readily available. Family planning, to relate population to world resources, is possible, practical and necessary. Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases we do not yet understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is soluble by means we have discovered and with resources we possess.

What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution but universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and education of the billions who are its victims.

It is easier for a Negro to understand a social paradox because he has lived so long with evils that could be eradicated but were perpetuated by indifference or ignorance. The Negro finally had to devise unique methods to deal with his problem, and perhaps the measure of success he is realizing can be an inspiration to others coping with tenacious social problems.

In our struggle for equality we were confronted with the reality that many millions of people were essentially ignorant of our conditions or refused to face unpleasant truths. The hard-core bigot was merely one of our adversaries. The millions who were blind to our plight had to be compelled to face the social evil their indifference permitted to flourish.

After centuries of relative silence and enforced acceptance, we adapted a technique of exposing the problem by direct and dramatic methods. We had confidence that when we awakened the nation to the immorality and evil of inequality, there would be an upsurge of conscience followed by remedial action.

We knew that there were solutions and that the majority of the nation were ready for them. Yet we also knew that the existence of solutions would not automatically operate to alter conditions. We had to organize, not only arguments, but people in the millions for action. Finally we had to be prepared to accept all the consequences involved in dramatizing our grievances in the unique style we had devised.

There is a striking kinship between our movement and Margaret Sanger's early efforts. She, like we, saw the horrifying conditions of ghetto life. Like we, she knew that all of society is poisoned by cancerous slums. Like we, she was a direct actionist — a nonviolent resister. She was willing to accept scorn and abuse until the truth she saw was revealed to the millions. At the turn of the century she went into the slums and set up a birth control clinic, and for this deed she went to jail because she was violating an unjust law. Yet the years have justified her actions. She launched a movement which is obeying a higher law to preserve human life under humane conditions. Margaret Sanger had to commit what was then called a crime in order to enrich humanity, and today we honor her courage and vision; for without them there would have been no beginning. Our sure beginning in the struggle for equality by nonviolent direct action may not have been so resolute without the tradition established by Margaret Sanger and people like her. Negroes have no mere academic nor ordinary interest in family planning. They have a special and urgent concern.

Recently the subject of Negro family life has received extensive attention. Unfortunately, studies have overemphasized the problem of the Negro male ego and almost entirely ignored the most serious element — Negro migration. During the past half century Negroes have migrated on a massive scale, transplanting millions from rural communities to crammed urban ghettoes. In their migration, as with all migrants, they carried with them the folkways of the countryside into an inhospitable city slum. The size of family that may have been appropriate and tolerable on a manually cultivated farm was carried over to the jammed streets of the ghetto. In all respects Negroes were atomized, neglected and discriminated against. Yet, the worst omission was the absence of institutions to acclimate them to their new environment. Margaret Sanger, who offered an important institutional remedy, was unfortunately ignored by social and political leaders in this period. In consequence, Negro folkways in family size persisted. The problem was compounded when unrestrained exploitation and discrimination accented the bewilderment of the newcomer, and high rates of illegitimacy and fragile family relationships resulted.
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Not to defend Sangers views, but in the very early 1900's eugenics was a very popular science. I believe OMG was a spry young lad in 1913 and Im sure he could remember the scientific community talking about genes and race :) . We know today that there is no such thing as "Biological" (Superiority) difference between race.

http://wupa.wustl.edu/record_archive/1998/10-15-98/articles/races.html

 
I find Chunkys last post very concerning......

Well, I wasn't targeting "progressives" on the whole insomuch as the self-hating white progressives. Let's be honest about this though, how many white people do you know that have lived with generations of "white guilt" to the point where they loath their own racial legacy. I know I'm not the only one who knows people like this. It's absolutely nauseating! I am personal friends with a few card carrying liberals who actually despise their own status in life because of progressive rhetoric that tells them they owe the black man for generations of social inequality. Have you ever listened to an inner city upper class hipster who laments the fact that she owns a BMW and lives in a very nice Brownstone but the poor kids who live three blocks away are subjected to gun violence and (her quote) "horrid living conditions"? But then, in the next moment, rant about how Washington and Jefferson owned slaves and blame them for today's social inequality, rant about how black people should be given preferential treatment over white people because of it, and then lament how she wishes there was something she could do to make herself feel better about the social injustice she sees everyday at her job as a Social Worker. Does she donate time or money to the local church, food shelter, YMCA, or the Boys/Girls Club? No friggin' way, she wouldn't be caught in THAT neighborhood!
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I feel no white guilt (But then again my family came here from Poland circa 1900), but to say that systematic racism has no influenced the black culture and that those effects cant still be felt today is a bit naive.

How long ago did Racism die? Im not too young to watch Old Blaxploitation movies, or see videos of race riots. Its not like every black person got an acre and a mule and said "Yep balance has been restored" and all the white folks simply treated them as equals. Legalized segregation ended in the 1960's! I still have a hard time fully understanding that system, and I feel you do to. And its not like racism ended after segregation, it continued.

Imagine if your grandfather was the only person in your family in a few hundred years to own his own property. Or to not have to use separate (But Equal) facilities. Imagine that he went to a separate school for backs only. There were more arrests on black people in NYC in 2010 than there were black people living there. Because they commit more crime? No, but the police seem to pull them over more often than not. How many black people have been turned down a good job they are qualified for because of their skin color? Could you not understand how losing an opportunity at a good job because of passive societal racism in 1965 (Example) would have potentially kept his kid from getting a good eduction at a state University (Lack of $), and then their kids end up growing up in a poor part of town and becoming the inner city society we see today.
 
Then we follow a slippery slope in perpetuation with things like the NAACP, the United Negro College fund etc.
Where the harms and hurts of the past heal, it must allow us to grasp what these founding fathers of civil rights, like the reverend Dr had, and must continue to the point of pointlessness.

That means all of us must take a stand, to do the right things, the hard things.
Allowing for things that obviously seperate ourselves, those left out must wait with patience til those things are truly obsolete, which has been said in many ways regarding the NAACP.
Whether true or not, it will happen, as it should.
The fault remains on both sides as to its needs.
The demands are needed by both/all sides those needs no longer are needed
 
Instead of blaming each other let us work together and obtain what is best for the country to prosper in the future for everyone.
 
I too am proud of what this nation has accomplished. America has come a long way in several decades but still has farther to go; but not from a legal stand point, but by means of the individual altering their perspective and embracing their fellow man. As the Catholic Church preaches, "Strive to see Christ in everyone." Not that you might agree with quoting the Catholic Church, but I believe the message strikes at the heart of the personal and social change that is needed.

The idea of a "racial legacy" is very real; don't be disagreeable just for the sake of disagreeing. Denying the racial legacy of Whites, Blacks, Native Americans, Jews, Japanese, etc is to ignore our own history and growth as a nation. Every time a public figure, politician, or organization plays on racial stereotypes and highlights social conditions it is confirmation of America's racial legacy and the perpetuation of that legacy.

If by "we are all the same at the core" you mean we are all equal under the law and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, then I totally agree. But no one can honestly deny that inequality is inherent in human nature. One man will never be equal to another in that the talents each individual possesses is unique to them. The only way Man can be viewed "the same at the core" is through the laws that bind us together; just as our Founding Fathers intended and as Dr. King preached.

I too feel no sense of white guilt as I was raised in low-income welfare housing and currently live in a middle-class mixed neighborhood. But there are, believe it or not, upper-class white people who were indoctrinated through progressive grade school, college, aging hippy parents, and media to despise their demographic and societal standing, i.e.; the self-hating progressive I referenced. Me personally, as a white person raised in a mixed low-income neighborhood, I experienced racism in my own right and am very familiar with epithets like; cracker, beloved patriot, ofay, peckerwood, hillbilly, redneck, and white-bread. I became accustomed to being accused of being a member of the KKK, accused of owning slaves, and getting my a$s beat simply because I was white. As a result, I do not deny that racism exists but it is also why I believe in what Dr. King said and preached.

The number of blacks arrested compared to crimes committed is borderline straw man as there are MANY demographic variations to be considered. For the most part, many States have profiling laws and there are reports of police being relieved of duty for targeting someone solely because they were black. Also, there are discrimination laws against employment selection based on race or religion. While these are "newer" laws and do not help of racism in 1965, the laws are in place now and have greatly changed our society, our attitudes, and how minorities live and work in today's America. And that's the point really, what happened years ago, should not be remembered to perpetuate how bad it used to be but remembered as a baseline in which to measure just how better things have gotten. As JAYDEEJOHN wrote...
...we follow a slippery slope in perpetuation with things like the NAACP, the United Negro College fund etc...That means all of us must take a stand, to do the right things, the hard things. Allowing for things that obviously seperate ourselves, those left out must wait with patience til those things are truly obsolete.
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It's easy to complain about how things are and search for boogeymen to blame and very difficult to admit our own faults and change our attitudes and perspective. As Dr. King said...
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
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