Sandy Hook

Sandy Hook

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Martin Luther King: Last Speech

Dr. King gave this prophetic speech on April 3, 1968 in Memphis, TN. The next day he was shot and killed by an assassin as he stood on the balcony of the Lorrain Hotel. In November 1983 President Ronald Reagen signed a bill designating January 20 as Martin Luther King Day. President George H. W. Bush's  proclaimed in 1992 that the holiday be observed on the third Monday of January each year.

11 comments:

  1. Leslie,
    I believe Dr King was only 39? What a tragic loss to his family especially but to all really.

    off topic, I replied to a post on a right wing blog.name and subject not important.Made my case and thanked them.I went back and still no replies but I perused the blog a bit.I was appalled at the ignorance.I don't mean things I disagree with,I mean misstatements of fact and incorrect "received wisdom". I resisted the temptation to lower myself but-this may sound odd-the hate, the stupid mindless hate, the wallowing their own ignorance and taking pride in it left me feeling psychically dirty. Does that make sense ?

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  2. You bet it makes sense. There are only a couple I visit but most often I don't read the comments. They just piss me off, to be honest.

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  3. Oso: When I went on Sue's blog today I got so mad at L that I blew her out of the water and then came back and did it again. She needs to get treatment for passive aggression.

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  4. Leslie LOL!
    Goood for you, still ROFL!
    I know libs do it too, but from what I see on the lib blogs there seems to be more fact-based commentary. Maybe cause we tend to be skeptical,less likely to follow authority so we research things more ?
    In my case once I start to get sarcastic the anger just spins out of control so I try to stay above the fray.

    Just watched the tube again.I still get mixed feelings of sorrow yet pride in humanity when I watch it.

    take care senora Perejil

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  5. I haven't see that speech for years, I had forgotten how powerful it was, how prophetic and how religious in tone. These days if any public figure starts using the words "God" "the Lord" etc etc., I tend go all glassy eyed, but coming from him I can take it.

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  6. Oso: The only blogs I visit are the ones on my list and they're there because I like them and think they're unusually smart. I rarely see this kind of ugliness we see from the right and it's usually a reaction rather than an initiated attack. Buenos noches y gracias.

    Holte: He was a minister first, as you know, and he often called out to God in his sermons. The difference between then and now is he didn't use God to punish or urge evil. He didn't use the bible as a weapon. He called on God to provide love and equality for all his people and to protect them. What hits me so strongly when I watch this is that I can almost see fear in his, a hint of desperation and at the same time some belligerence.

    If you have a chance to read them, there are two excellent biographies-very, very thick. Sorry I can't be more specific.

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  7. Four Things you didn't know about 'Dr. Martin Luther' King:

    1. His name wasn't Martin Luther. It was Michael. It was decided 'Martin Luther' had a more prominent ring to it, so he went by that. He never legally changed his name. To this day, he lived and died as Michael King.

    2. While working on his dissertation for his doctoral degree at Boston University, he heavily plagiarized from another author who had done research on a subject similar to King's. An academic committee later found that over half of King's work was plagiarized, yet would not revoke his doctrine. King was dead by this time, and the committee ruled that revoking the title would serve no purpose. It was also discovered that King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech was also not his own. He stole it from a sermon by Archibald Carey, a popular black preacher in the 1950's.
    3. King was under FBI surveillance for several years (until he died) due to his ties with communist organizations throughout the country. King accepted money from the organizations to fund his movements. In return, King had to appoint communist leaders to run certain districts of his SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), who then could project their communist ideas to larger audiences. A federal judge in the 60's ruled that the FBI files on King's links to communism to remain top-secret until 2027. Senator Jesse Helms appealed to the Supreme Court in 1983 to release the files, so the current bill in the Senate to create the Martin Luther King Federal Holiday could be abolished. He was denied.
    4. One of King's closest friends, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, wrote a book in 1989 in which he talked about King's obsession with white prostitutes. King would often use church donations to have drunken sex parties, where he would hire two to three white prostitutes, occasionally beating them brutally. This has also been reported by the FBI agents who monitored King. King was married with four children.
    Monday is "Martin Luther King" Day. A day when this country came to a screeching halt so we can have parades and memorials to honor this man, a man that most of the world views as a saint for his role in the civil rights movement.
    No other public holiday in the USA honors a single individual. Of all the great leaders in our Nation's history - none of them have their own holiday. All of our great war heroes share Memorial Day. All of our great presidents share President's Day. Yet King - a man who was a phony, a cheater, a traitor, and a sexual degenerate - gets a day of his own.
    I have a big problem with that.
    I'm not trying to take anything away from African Americans, but I am trying to point out that (1) the vast majority of people are sorely mistaken about Michael King, and (2) that reverse discrimination is blatantly obvious everywhere you look today

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  8. Anon: You are spouting the same crap that the right has been claiming for years - all of it totally false. I'm not going to dignify you or waste my time pointing out to an utter moron and monumental coward what unadulterated bull this is.

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  9. L,
    I commend you for your dignity in replying to that anon buffoon.

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  10. Thanks, Oso. I always have to take a deep breath and count to ten before responding. Sometimes I just delete.

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  11. Thanks for this, TL. Dr. King knew that he would be killed. For my tribute to him, I posted the complete text of "Beyond Vietnam". As for anon. comment, while he was under investigation by J. Edgar Hoover for communist ties, Hoover was unsuccessful in his attempt to discredit him, because there was no basis for the charge. The rest is pure garbage.

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