Martin Luther King

A sophomoric attempt to discredit the African-American Museum in DC:

The late Sen. Jesse Helms was an ardent opponent of establishing a Smithsonian museum for African-American history. He argued that it would trigger a string of history museums based on race and culture.

The more likely reason for his opposition is the very strong possibility that he himself would be on exhibit, and not in a position of honor, either. Not only did he adamantly and powerfully oppose civil rights, desegregation, voting rights, affirmative action, etc., he also spent 16 days filibustering the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday.

Cross-posted from a Facing South article by Sue Sturgis.

With the American people still struggling to make sense of the recent shootings in Arizona and the role that violent political rhetoric may have played, we revisit the words of the minister from Georgia who we honor this weekend.
Following is the text of a sermon Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered on Nov. 17, 1957 at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. Eleven months earlier, King and other civil rights activists had founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the power of African-American churches in the fight for racial justice -- a fight that was met with violence both rhetorical and very real.

In fact, the sermon was delivered a year before King was almost killed -- stabbed in the chest by a mentally ill woman who believed that King and the NAACP were communists conspiring to keep her from getting a job.

From his hospital room in Harlem, Dr. King issued a statement bearing no ill will toward his assailant, Izola Ware Curry, and hoping she would get help. King saw the incident not as an attack on one man, but as an attack of hatred.

Cross-posted from an article by Chris Kromm on Facing South

When Glenn Beck decided to hold his "Restoring Honor" rally last week at the very site in Washington, D.C. where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, the Fox commentator's dubious attempt to draw parallels between his right-wing agenda and King's quite different vision was blasted by civil rights veterans.

With your indulgence, I'm using my blog-space today with some thoughts that aren't NC-specific, but ones that I hope will be shared with all citizens. Today is the 40th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King's death. I remember the grief, shock and fear I felt that day when I first heard the news. Funny; forty years have past and that grief is still as strong today as it was then, but in the meantime, it has been tempered with words and actions.

Still, I long for A Voice that will unite people once again for justice, equality and human dignity. Perhaps, we are the ones we've been waiting for.

There are quite a few places where you can hear the remarks by Bobby Kennedy in Indianapolis the night Martin Luther King was killed.

The speech, given from the heart on a tragic and fearful night in this country, was a ripple of hope at a time of great despair.

Here's someone's You Tube montage with the full text.

I have always been a Democrat. If my definition of the word Democrat were in the dictionary, it would simply say “The People”.

I remember being in my 5th grade class at Sunset Elementary school in La Puente California when, one day in 1963, our School Principal, Mr. Hackleman, came into the room. He was sort of crying. He told us that our President, John F. Kennedy (JFK), had been mortally wounded in Dallas Texas. He sent us home.

As the next few years went by, we were all taught about the greatness of John F. Kennedy and how he had a dream for America where we would all be free and happy, where all Americans would enjoy the fullness of liberty promised to us by our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. He talked about a strong America, second to none; whose primary goal in the world was peace, freedom and prosperity. He welcomed all countries to join in the vision for a free and sharing world and warned those who would seek to hurt America, or her friends, that although our strength was meant for good, we would defend our free way of life and our friends in the world.