It's Still Sad

[Oli]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/art/mlk/photogallery/1963-65/photo04.jpg

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize.

http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1964/1101640103_400.jpg

ON FREEDOM (1963): "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. But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. And when this happens, when we let it ring, we will speed 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're free at last."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/art/mlk/photogallery/1956-62/photo15.jpg

ON THE DREAM OF FREEDOM (1963): "So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed . . . that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state 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. And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true."


Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride.

[Realgirls4me]

I wish they (the media,academics,etc) would put his "I Have A Dream" speech on hold for, say, 20 years. Great speech and all, but I happen to think his other speeches such as Beyond Vietnam should be part of the dialogue and narrative also.

What the matter, America? Scared?

[cockgobbler]

I wonder what America would be like today if Mr. King, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy had not been assissinated.

[Oli]

I wonder what America would be like today if Mr. King, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy had not been assissinated.

A very different place, that's for sure.

[alpha2117]

I wonder what America would be like today if Mr. King, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy had not been assissinated.

A very different place, that's for sure.

Maybe a worse one. Sadly King's death was probably the best thing for the civil rights movement in that the majority of people were outraged causing a groundswell of support for the cause. Without his death the cause itself may have struggled to reach the masses to the extent it did. I'm not saying it's a good thing he was assasinated but as with many tragedies some good may have come from it. Without his death and the subsequent swing of public opinion heavily towards the civil rights movement the more extreme elements of the movement may have been forced into more extreme action which may of caused more harm than good. We will never know for sure.

The Kennedys and Abraham Lincoln died at a point where they have become iconic figures, had they lived would that have happened?

JFK was ill, had some shady ties and little JFK ruled big JFK too often. Had he lived he may have made a disaterous error or been embroiled in some scandal.

Bobby is similar to his big brother.

Lincoln was the most divisive figure of his time. Had he remained in power would further problems have occured or great improvements.

These people were taken at their peak and have become iconic figures because of that. Their deaths are tragedies but in death their legacies may have become greater than if they had lived.

[Realgirls4me]

Great little article:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/04/8090/

Sadly, according to this article, the media at the time had already started to marginalize him.
It's conjecture on my part obviously, but I think the media would have "Fox News" him eventually as they have the Reverend Wright, which the article alludes to. Granted it was a different time as the Left flexed its muscles during that decade, but if Fox News is doing it today, one can only wonder if the major media players then would have eventually come around to marginalize him as irrelevant.

[Realgirls4me]

King Trivia:

I didn't know that King not only smoked (not heavily), but also that he was quite the billiards player.

(Just wanted to lighten the mood) :)

[Oli]

King Trivia:

I didn't know that King not only smoked (not heavily), but also that he was quite the billiards player.

(Just wanted to lighten the mood) :)

Here you go Real

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/art/mlk/photogallery/1966-68/photo01.jpg

[Realgirls4me]

Thanks, Oli. I think Time-Life had a pictorial of him playing billiards which they published a couple of years ago.

Let's supplant "I Have a Dream" speech with this one I say.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U

What he says around 5:25 demonstrates this country's militarism and thus insanity. I wonder what that figure is today in Iraq?

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."


"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

[Alyssa87]

he was quite a radical liberal in his day (from what i understand).
today's media would label him as off the mark and an extremist like obama's ex-pastor. maybe he wouldnt be taken as seriously.

but what do i know?