CODE:BLACK

[omega minimo]

"Early morning, April four, Shot rings out in the Memphis sky. Free at last, they took your life. They could not take your pride."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Pnlhs7grQ

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"But it was precisely one year to the day after this speech that that bullet which had been chasing him for a long time finally caught up with him. And I am convinced that that bullet had something to do with that speech." -- Dr. Vincent Harding



http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/reports/episode-two.html
This second installment of Tavis Smiley Reports examines the forgotten agenda of Martin Luther King Jr., whose famed "Beyond Vietnam" speech, given at Riverside Church in 1967, led to an abrupt loss of his popularity in the last year of his life. The program explores the relevance of King's anti-war position to the current U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the significance of the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor bestowed upon both King and President Barack Obama. Tavis Smiley Reports MLK: A Call to Conscience is based on dozens of hours of interviews with King's friends and with scholars who study his legacy. King's closest advisors discuss the divisions within the civil rights movement over King's opposition to the war in Vietnam—and the political and public fallout from his criticism of American foreign policy.


http://www.thekingcenter.org/
http://www.thekingcenter.org/Default.aspx
Martin Luther King, "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U
?t=1269968117&s=4
The Story Of King's 'Beyond Vietnam' Speech
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125355148
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence (text edit)
Delivered 4 April 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City

It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin , we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily 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 South 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 hand 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.
http://www.ratical.com/ratville/JFK/MLKapr67.html



Pride -- In the Name of Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56mjwycKuXA


We love you, Martin

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. He was such a great man...

And what do we do to our great men?

We kill them.

Rest in Peace, brother...

:cry:

[omega minimo]

2. We walk a fine line California Peggy

of those who remember/honor/understand and those for whom this is all academic, Wiki, whatever... I hope some dialogue might occur here on what it meant and what it means, for those older than the current president (and others), who have some visceral connection with MLK and his times.

Esp. as I have been in these skirmishes over belief and the concept of "respect has to be earned" keeps coming up. The attitudes "we" as a nation had about tolerance, respect, progressive values, are so different and IMHO they are NOT obsolete or irrelevant.


edit: "older" in relation to younger

[northofdenali]

25. Why do we still have a Black History Month?

Because we STILL don't have a noted, recognized and celebrated Black History!

When my daughter (now 28) was in junior high school, their "assignment" during Black History Month was an essay about an historic black figure. Despite the 70/30 racial "split" in her school, almost everyone chose famous folks, like MLK, Rosa Parks, etc.

My daughter, of whom I'm overly proud, chose the Tuskeegee Airmen. She not only wrote her "article", she found old photos, several books, and actually spoke to one of these heros!

She's a little white kid, born and raised in Alabama and Alaska.

Damn right we need Martin's words, not just today, but EVERY day.

My mom had a dream, too. She's now 96, and she taught me to dream.

[MadMaddie]

30. Yes mam that's exactly what this country does!

Anyone that says different doens't acknowledge history.

[awoke_in_2003]

39. It has been going on a long time...

full disclosure- I am an atheist. That being said, the story of Christ was that of a great man. No good deed goes unpunished, even 2000 years ago.

[chill_wind]

3. He speaks to us yet today, as urgently as ever

from the depths of his heart and soul.

His message is timeless and ***timely as ever.***

This site will let you listen to his Beyond Vietnam speech delivered in his very own voice here:
(audio and full transcript)

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence

Delivered 4 April 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City


http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm



Thank you om. K & R.

[omega minimo]

6. Aye. Thank you VM for the link

:pals:

[chill_wind]

12. For the ages:

We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. And history is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says: "Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word"

:hug:

[omega minimo]

13. beautiful

the Letter From a Birmingham Jail is one of the most lucid pieces of prose ever. The commitment he had to embody his principles, is what was passed on to those who were around "back in the day" and seems lost/alien/dismissed now.

[leftstreet]

4. K&R

...And one day we must ask the question, Why are there forty million poor people in America? And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I'm simply saying that more and more, we've got to begin to ask questions about the whole society... MLK

[omega minimo]

8. and still we do

:thumbsup:



"A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily 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 South 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."

[inna]

5. K&R

Outstanding post!

:applause:

[omega minimo]

7. inna inna inna

much obliged :hug:

[laughingliberal]

9. Never forget. We will never know how much we truly owe him.

:cry:

[omega minimo]

10. Never forget

As we remember, as we reflect, it makes that painfully clear.

Looking at a version of U2's song from 1984 -- linked in OP -- it's very early in their career and also clear how powerful MLK's presence was for these boys from Ireland....

Thanks, LL :hug:

[omega minimo]

11. can't forget if i post it twice!!

:spray:

[Hekate]

14. Kick and Rec, with thanks.

[omega minimo]

15. thanks Hekate

[pnorman]

16. K & R forl those links!

n/t

[gleaner]

17. Thank you for the post and the links ....

Dr King's stand on Viet Nam only cost him popularity with those who favored the war and as a person who lived through those times, I can tell you that they were not in the majority. In 1968 Humphrey was repudiated because he was seen as a pro war ally of Lyndon Johnson. Nixon was elected because he promised to stop the war. Of course, he didn't mean it.

Dr. King has always been one of the people I most admire. Not only because he lived the values that Quakers teach and I try to live by too, but because he had a unique spirituality and a passion to help those who most needed it and to try and show us all a better and more human way to live.

I have a recording of his Viet Nam speech and I listen to it from time to time to refresh my spirit when I feel heart sick over the fact that war continues to be considered not only our first response but our only response.

He knew that he would be killed. He spoke of it to those who were close to him, but he still stood up for what he knew was the most important human value. A life of dignity and service to others and the formation of a community where people could live without fear.

[omega minimo]

21. beautiful

:grouphug:

[gleaner]

44. Thank you....

Happy Easter to you. I hope you have a wonderful day.:grouphug:

[onethatcares]

18. I heard his voice as I read that

it sounded loud and clear in my mind.

And what do we hear now from those that keep us from our appointment with destiny? That we can't afford it?

We as a country are lost.

Peace

and thank you Martin Luther King.

[malaise]

19. Great post

Thanks MLK

[omega minimo]

22. here's to inspiration, malaise

:toast:

[northofdenali]

20. I have a dream, too, Mr. King -

and I will keep dreaming it until the day I die.

Thank you for your life and vision, Mr. King.

K&R

[omega minimo]

23. NoD

:hug:

[northofdenali]

24. omega!

:loveya::hug::loveya:

[pampango]

26. "Listen not to false prophets who wrap their politics around the fear of the immigrant.

It is not a new song they sing. In fact, it is eerily similar to the songs sung not too long ago. They sang that slavery was God's way until that song sounded ridiculous. They altered the song and sang segregation was God's way until that too sounded ridiculous. Now the song of the false prophets paints the immigrant as a threat to, rather than a pillar of, American society; paints undocumented fathers and mothers working from sunrise to sundown as a drain of our nation's resources rather than a reminder of our heroic beginnings; and paints immigrant children as a national burden rather than our nation's blessing."

"For too long, advocates who fear immigrants have acted as the primary molders of our perception concerning immigration, convincing us all too easily that their fears fall in line with reality."

"King's vision and struggles are important to remember as serious conversations about immigration reform are again beginning to brew ... Though the conversation concerning immigration in America is more ancient than King, King's vision provides a helpful tool with which to view the immigration struggle today. Immigration is about human dignity and the nobility of parents of different tribes and nations facing the risk of coming to a foreign land, a land of opportunity, to work for a better tomorrow for their children.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6752168.html

[Echo In Light]

27. k/r

[omega minimo]

28. Happy happy joy joy

:toast:

[SocialistLez]

29. I hate

I didn't learn as much as I should have about him in school but thank goodness for the internet.

I loved the way this person put it: "The Santa Clausification of Martin Luther King Jr."

http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_political/5124108.html

[amborin]

31. K&R

[laughingliberal]

32. Kick nt

[DesertDiamond]

33. I am so moved. And he was so right. A great revolution in the hearts of the people will save us

Without that, we will indeed perish. But we can do that human revolution of the heart, and we will.

[laughingliberal]

34. I just read through this again. Amazing how relevant his words remain today

A true revolution of values will lay hand 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.

and


It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin , we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

We have moved so much further towards the conditions about which he warned us and we have few voices opposing these conditions today. We are not moving in the right direction.

[omega minimo]

35. and

"When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."


Is it a lack of voices or TPTB not listening?

[laughingliberal]

36. TPTB are not listening. They are not on our side

Oh, sure. If they can throw us a bone once in a while that doesn't upset the corporate masters too much, they will. But anything that might change the power structure? Pfffft. Not a chance.

[KG]

43. the real problem is that not enuff of 'us' are listening.

[Moostache]

37. So much blood and killing, so small the reasons why...

JFK, RFK, MLK, Malcom X - all shot dead long before their time, all espousing a new social gospel of equality and of justice.

Thus has it always been for men of peace and good conscience, as far back as history stretches. The Jesus of the gospels (not the Jeebus of hate-filled fundie fools) was a radical in those same lines, essentially giving voice to the moral imperative that the powerful continue to drive out of human hearts generation after generation, century by century - keeping us at war with each other in a constant resource grab and exploitation followed by recrimination and vilification of the next scape-goat...we need to break free of this and far greater men than I have been unable to rouse the spirits of men into a vehicle of change, but if we all start at home, by educating our children to love and not to hate, to serve and not to take, to speak and not to fall silent in the face of opposition, then together we can achieve what apart we cannot!

Sleep. Sleep tonight. And may your dreams be realized.
- "MLK", U2 (1984) - The Unforgettable Fire

(That remains my favorite U2 album of all-time, even though they went on to achieve world-wide celebrity and success with other albums, The Unforgettable Fire was for me their seminal work.)

[omega minimo]

40. ME2

They had me through Joshua Tree ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B944ShcYSiE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgZYlTpRoRc

[Jamastiene]

38. K&R

[Scruffy1]

41. It seems like yesterday to me

And yet we it was over 40 years ago. The organized religions are still extolling war from the pulpit in hopes of gaining political favor(and dollars), the public is easily led into supporting imperialist wars, and politicians still wrap themselves in the flag and the Bible to accomplish their evil. Militarism and war is an essential element of fascism as it enables the branding of dissidents as unpatriotic, the payment of huge sums to political supporters as "contracts", and diverts public attention from domestic issues. In World War 1 Wilson used the war to imprison socialist and labor leaders, in World War II wages were frozen but not profits and in the last ones The economy was picked clean. Makes one wonder if the people of the US will ever wake up.

[freddie mertz]

42. K & R. I was 14, and it felt like the world was ending.

I heard it on the radio, then called up some friends... we were inconsolable.

That was the night of James Brown in Boston, too.

[omega minimo]

49. please tell

those of us who don't know about James Brown in Boston that night. Thank you. :pals:

[NOLALady]

52. I heard a mention of this

a short while ago on my local radio. IIRC they said James Brown was paid $60,000 to "save" Boston. Or maybe it was 6000. But it sure sounded like 60,000.

[freddie mertz]

68. He was scheduled to perform and gave the concert...

Which was televised that night.

There was rioting to be sure, but James' live show and concert kept many off of the streets.

It was really something, a major event in Boston's history,

http://www.universalhub.com/node/7023

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4871804257884805333#

[laughingliberal]

62. I was in Memphis and I thought the world was ending, too

I was 13 and my parents were working with an organization supporting the sanitation workers' strike and King's work. They were out. I didn't know a thing had happened until my aunt showed up at our house and said our parents had called and she was taking us to her house. My father's name had been printed in the local paper along with our address during King's last visit to Memphis when my father's organization was supporting King. My parents told us when they got to my aunt's house what had happened. It was very violent in Memphis and a lot of the right wing reactionary groups were out in force gunning for anyone black or any sympathizers of the movement. I was devastated. Truth be told, I'd never gotten over the assassination of JFK which was when I was 8. But this one really hit close to home.

[omega minimo]

64. wow

just wow. a bit younger and not at the epicenter and yet these events impacted our lives forever.

[jwirr]

45. I give thanks for his life - for many of us he was teacher, leader and

hero all in one. Without him my life would have been a poor substitute for what it is now.

[Little Star]

46. K&R

[femrap]

47. k and r

I remember the day he was murdered. We can't have people encouraging a world of peace and conscience.

The dudes making $$$ off of war won't have it.

[hulka38]

48. One of the great human beings.

[tclambert]

50. Thanks for posting this.

[Number23]

51. Rec'd. It's interesting though that DU has been focusing on King's stance on Vietnam

and labor issues lately. He was and always will be a champion of black rights before anything else imo but this OP is greatly appreciated and certainly highlights his eventual expansion into other human rights issues.

[Shining Jack]

53. I totally agree.

And what a loss to humankind. :(

[omega minimo]

58. IMHO

agree with your point, while adding that he exemplifies the interconnection of human rights issues and the path of peace.

Tavis Smiley was interviewed on NPR regarding his program on the Viet Nam speech.

On DU we never know what progressive means, we've factionalized like the nation has and lost touch with the progressive era; or with the notion of joining together. Some claim "respect has to be earned" with no connection to what the word as noun and a verb once meant.

I tried to revisit the time, without having been aware myself that that speech impacted his popularity and may have sealed his fate.

If we were children, encouraged to judge and be judged by the "content of their character," we knew the struggle for black rights was about us too.


Hope you and 23.1 are well! :pals:

[Number23]

61. Completely understand

I tried to revisit the time, without having been aware myself that that speech impacted his popularity and may have sealed his fate.

All any of us can do is examine the world through the prism of our own lives and experiences and yet, still try to be open to new ideas and perspectives. I think MLK's position on Vietnam was just ONE of the positions that he held that "sealed his fate."

And the Big Day is only a few days away. Good LORD I'll be glad when I'm not pregnant anymore!!! :bounce: :bounce:

[omega minimo]

63. OMG

.92875 is still IN THERE!!!!! :wow::spray:

Have a wonderful blessed birth. :hug:

[Number23]

65. lol I know! I can't believe it either!

Somebody get this child outta me!!! Does it feel like I've been pregnant for 6 years or what?? If I could actually see my feet, I'd be stomping them. :rofl: :rofl:

Thanks for the well wishes, Omega. They mean alot. :hi:

[puebloknot]

54. The contrast between Dr. King's use of a Christian message ...

... to attempt to bring about social justice (the true message of Jesus the Christ, whether he actually existed or not), and today's extreme right "Christians" could not be greater. Singing hymns and denying solace to the suffering through legislation for medical care, housing, education is the height of ignorance and intolerance.

Yes, I feel intolerance for those who would be the PTB, in lieu of our legally elected President (this time around).

Thanks for this reminder of all we've lost, and all that might have been. I'm among the older set who lived through it. And I think it's important to continue to remind the younger generations about our history. When some don't know the relative time frames of the Civil War and the fight against Hitler, it bodes very poorly for our country.

It's sad to think that a new generation might not be as inspired to step up to the plate in defense of Justice when they can so clearly see (if they are able to think critically, at all)that so much of what MLK, JFK, RFK and many others worked for has been set aside in favor of soft fascism, which is growing harder every day.

[omega minimo]

55. How does the history get passed on?

"Thanks for this reminder of all we've lost, and all that might have been. I'm among the older set who lived through it. And I think it's important to continue to remind the younger generations about our history. When some don't know the relative time frames of the Civil War and the fight against Hitler, it bodes very poorly for our country."

You're right and this OP and others attempt to bridge what seem to be some big gaps. We also might be talking now about where our NEW progressive movement is...




great comments, as ever, pk. :pals:

[puebloknot]

56. Too much "history" is getting passed on in churches ...

... and too little through legitimate educational institutions.

Unfortunately, test scores as opposed to critical thinking are now the order of the day. It's easy to sway a crowd with false information, and difficult to get beyond the conditioning of the average Jane/Joe, who, to be fair, are too busy trying to survive to take time for really looking at our history and trying to influence future generations for good.

The Power of One always comes to mind in conversations like this. We just have to do our own private acts to try to change things -- acts like the posting of this great article today! Thanks for bothering to do that!

[omega minimo]

57. much obliged

and if it helps a little .... :thumbsup:

We stand on the shoulders of those who go before us ....

[MrMickeysMom]

59. Before this day ends for me... passing on this -

from The King Center http://www.thekingcenter.org/

Peace

[omega minimo]

60. Thank you for that MMM

:bounce:

[Tsiyu]

66. If anyone can read that speech today

and not end up crying at how far we have not come, they are not human.


It brings back many memories and tears for me, to read that speech.



And a deep sadness that many things MLK denounced back then are worse today.

sorry could not rec

[omega minimo]

67. indeed

"And a deep sadness that many things MLK denounced back then are worse today."

[Brewman_Jax]

69. K&R

:kick:

[Swamp Rat]

70. kick

:hi: :hug:

[AuntPatsy]

71. K & I only can wish to recommend since it is past time...

[Bluebear]

72. Kick for more consideration.

A day is not enough to remember the man.

[happy_liberal]

73. "How long will they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look" Bob Marley

This whole thread is making me cry.

He was dead before I was alive but he is forever my hero and my pastor.


Thanks for posting!

[Bluebear]

74. ...

[leftstreet]

75. ...

[Blue_Tires]

76. thanks for this...

[Political Heretic]

77. ...