Category: Martin Luther King Jr

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Barack Obama BLM democrats Domestic Policies Martin Luther King Jr Politics Racial profiling Racism

The Urgency of King’s Message: Forty Eight Years and Counting

I think I’ve found a new, potent source of energy; Martin Luther King, Jr. spinning in his grave over the state of race relations in the country and on the presidential election trail. All we need to do is tap into it and we can power our devices for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, it won’t do much for our national soul.

In the 48 years since his untimely and tragic death, King’s legacy has been begged, borrowed and stolen by those who believe they knew his intentions and by those who wanted them buried along with him. From the start, politicians – mostly on the right, including President Reagan and Senator Jesse Helms – opposed even making King’s birthday a national holiday. Arizona had to be threatened with the ultimate penalty of no Super Bowls, before they would accept the day. It’s also become a favorite day for the NBA to schedule afternoon games, but that seems to be the upper limit on MLK Day commercialization, and that’s a good thing. Those of us who are old enough might remember that January was traditionally the month when retailers would run sales on textiles that they labeled “White Sales.”

Can you imagine?

Over the past few years we’ve witnessed terrible incidents where African-American men, women and children were unjustly killed by the police, unnecessarily fined to the brink of bankruptcy by corrupt public officials, and stopped by the police for reasons that white Americans don’t experience. And what is considered good news for African-Americans, that their rates of narcotics deaths is lower, is tragically caused by racism, as this article recounts:

There is a reason that blacks appear to have been spared the worst of the narcotic epidemic, said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, a drug abuse expert. Studies have found that doctors are much more reluctant to prescribe painkillers to minority patients, worrying that they might sell them or become addicted.
“The answer is that racial stereotypes are protecting these patients from the addiction epidemic,” said Dr. Kolodny, a senior scientist at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and chief medical officer for Phoenix House Foundation, a national drug and alcohol treatment company.

On the campaign trail, the Republicans continue to express their outrage that minorities are not working because white tax money is easily available to them in the form of public assistance and unemployment benefits. Their fealty to Donald Trump’s immigration scheme will doom them with a majority of Hispanic voters and they can’t win the White House with only White Votes. Their opposition to a fair minimum wage, infrastructure projects, labor collective bargaining rights and public schools really doesn’t allow for any middle class group to support them, much less those who have traditionally been marginalized in American society.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is making his move in Iowa and New Hampshire and is now trying to appeal more to African-Americans, a group that Hillary Clinton has always done well with. Both of them have had problems with Black Lives Matter and their relative success could come down to the minority vote in southern states and northern cities. The Democrats cannot take the African-American vote for granted because the party has controlled many cities over the years, yet the schools have not improved, housing has not become more affordable, the minimum wage hasn’t helped and many jobs have fled the country.

Barack Obama’s election will have a lasting effect on this country, even as he is the victim of both overt and subtle racism on the part of many of his opponents. That he has served this country with distinction, morality, forthrightness and a stubborn streak that has forced his opposition to argue against fair treatment of all people, makes him a worthy representative of King’s legacy.

And this is why we need to have a holiday for Martin Luther King. It’s here to remind us that we will never live up to the true meaning of our founding documents as long as we treat people differently under the law, in the workplace and schools, and, most importantly, in our heads and hearts. I would urge you to add to your resolutions to lose weight and make more money, one that includes an action, an attitude change, or a commitment to act in King’s spirit and honor his words.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Martin Luther King Jr Politics selma

Republican Leaders Will Not Be Going to Selma – No Surprises Here

Why the heck would Republicans be interested in anything to do with Selma? I am disappointed that the Congressional Black Caucus and Rep. John Lewis would expect these Republicans to care about anything to do with the Civil Rights movement.

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) this week joined the Congressional Black Caucus in complaining that none of the Republican leadership in Congress would be attending a commemoration of the 1965 march for civil rights in Selma, Alabama.

“I wish we had someone in the [Republican] leadership going,” Lewis told Politico in an article published Thursday. “President Bush is going to be there, but I think it would have been fitting and appropriate for them to make a trip.”

Lewis took part in the historic march alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In his criticism, he was joined by Rep. Marsha Fudge (D-OH) and the caucus chairman, Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), who was less gentle in his condemnation.

“It is very disappointing that not a single Republican leader sees the value in participating in this 50th commemoration of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. I had hoped that some of the leadership would attend, but apparently none of them will,” Butterfield told Politico.

“The Republicans always talk about trying to change their brand and be more appealing to minority folks and be in touch with the interests of African-Americans,” he added. “This is very disappointing.”

The article noted that Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL) co-sponsored the event and encouraged at least 23 other GOPers to join them.

UPDATE: It was just reported that out of the entire GOP Congressional body, 1 token member showed up for the Selma events.

Disgraceful!

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Education Entertainment Martin Luther King Jr Movie Movies selma

Yes, Students Can See ‘Selma’ for Free

The producers of Selma have teamed up with Black business leaders from around the country for an unprecedented initiative to give students free access to the Oscar-nominated film. So far, nearly 100,000 middle schoolers have taken advantage of the program in cities like New York, Atlanta, Miami and New Orleans, BET reports.

Due to popular demand, many more cities have been added to the program and nearly 120,000 tickets made available. To get their free ticket, students in the 7th, 8th or 9th grade can show their student ID or report card at any of the participating theaters. For a complete list of cities and theaters, visit SelmaStudentsTickets.com.

The expansion has been inspired by the overwhelming success of the program in New York City, in which 27 African-American business leaders created a fund for 27,000 of the city’s 7th, 8th and 9th grade students to see the film for free. That effort sold out in the very first weekend.

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Barack Obama Martin Luther King Jr Politics

From Martin Luther King Jr. to Barack Obama – 50 Years Later

President Obama today offered a tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., while also imploring all Americans to remember that the work of the iconic civil rights leader remains unfinished.

“The arc of the moral universe may bend toward justice, but it doesn’t bend on its own,” Obama said on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on a rainy afternoon in Washington. “We’ll suffer the occasional setback, but we will win these fights.”

Obama, who spoke to an estimated crowd of 20,000 — far fewer than 200,000-plus who attended the March on Washington and witnessed King’s “I Have a Dream” speech 50 years ago — recalled that day in 1963.

“On a hot summer day, they assembled here in our nation’s capitol, under the shadow of the great emancipator to offer testimony of injustice, to petition their government for redress, to awaken America’s long slumbering conscience,” he said.

“How he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions, how he offered a salvation path to oppressed and oppressors alike. We would do well to recall that that day itself also belonged to those ordinary people whose names never appeared in history books.”

This ‘March’ Interactive Captures the Moment

Acknowledging his own place in history, Obama praised King and the civil rights activists of his era: “They kept marching, America changed.”

He added, “and yes, eventually, the White House changed.”

Fifty years to the day after King Jr. delivered his speech, Obama stepped into the shadows of his personal hero, standing in the same spot to deliver remarks commemorating the 1963 March on Washington, a powerful example of the progress King envisioned.

For the nation’s first African-American president, the much-anticipated speech carried with it immense symbolism and high stakes.

“Let me just say for the record right now, it won’t be as good as the speech 50 years ago,” Obama told radio host Tom Joyner in an interview Tuesday. “I just want to get that out there early. Because when you are talking about Dr. King’s speech at the March on Washington, you’re talking about one of the maybe five greatest speeches in American history.

“And the words that he spoke at that particular moment, with so much at stake, and the way in which he captured the hopes and dreams of an entire generation, I think is unmatched.”

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Martin Luther King Jr Politics

Section 5 – The Foundation Of OUR Voting Rights

Justice Scalia

Section 5 of The Voting Rights Act has become the most controversial topic in the news over the past week. And with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia making unflattering comments like, I think it is attributable, very likely attributable, to a phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement…, it puts more of a spotlight on the number one issue now facing the Supreme Court – the survivability of Section 5

Under Section 5 of the Voting Act, nine Southern states (and a few other counties) must get the advance approval from the Department of Justice in Washington for any state electoral changes they want to implement. This process, known as pre-clearance, covers everything from drawing the lines of legislative districts to deciding the location of polling places.

However, Justice Scalia thinks this very important measure amounts to Racial…Entitlement! A chance to vote… a chance which is the right of EVERY America citizens, is being considered Racial Entitlement. The comment clearly offended Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “Do you think that the right to vote is a racial entitlement in Section 5?… Do you think Section 5 was voted for because it was a racial entitlement?” she said later, seeming to call out Scalia.

Why should the fundamental right to vote, a right that was fought for and signed into law in 1965, a right that was spurred by Civil Rights Leaders, Organizers, Laymen, Preachers, Mothers and Fathers, Blacks and Whites… why is this still a topic for debate? It is so nonsensical that in 2013, the very foundation of the Voting Rights Act could possibly be overturned. And why would anyone consider overturning this important law considering what some of the GOP surrogates attempted in the election of 2012?

There were multiple reports and evidence of voter obstruction in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas and Florida just to name a few, where Republican governors concentrated on voter disruptions, from attempting to introduce late legislation to having voters produce picture I.D.’s to actually closing polling stations early, denying hundreds of thousands of voters an opportunity to perform there God given and Constitutional right to Vote. Those multiple disruptive behaviors alone to the voting process should be enough to keep Section 5 on the Books.

But make no mistake, this is a calculated and premeditated act of the Republican Party. Ever since President Obama was elected as President in term #1, Mitch McConnell had the audacity to state in a news conference that the main objective of his party was to “make sure this President was a one-term President.” That didn’t work out for them although they tried to block all of the President’s policies or support him in any domestic affairs that would be beneficial for the American people.

So now, after President Obama’s re-election, the scam is on. If they, the GOP and the big money bags, can’t beat him, they will attempt to swing momentum in their favor. How you asked? By changing (or stealing) the vote. By trying to eliminate Section. By cancelling out Section 5 of the Voter Rights Act. And now it appears the Republicans have found favor in a Justice on the Highest Court in the land, the Supreme Court.

So, how could a Supreme Court Justice miss this? Does he not look at the news? Does he not have access to a paper or computer with the internet? Is it just blind ignorance? I’m not sure what Scalia is thinking but I know how the majority of Americans feel.

Rep. John Lewis

Just ask Sen. John Lewis who was a part of the original marches with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., demanding voting and civil rights for all Americans. We can also solicit feedback from Minorities, Democrats and those survivors of the Civil Rights Movement who fought to have this law passed.

Outraged! Less we forget the hundreds of thousands who were beaten, maimed, imprisoned and even killed just to perform this most important act of democracy. And to have individuals attempt to take it away is completely atrocious and un-patriotic.

A Great Big Thank You to all who paved the way for me and my family to exercise our right to vote. And Thank You to all who continue to Fight the Good Fight. This is the right of All Americans. And now we Have to take a Stand, America! Contact your Congressman and tell them, “Continue to Fight For ME so I can Vote”! Get Active, Get Busy, Get Serious America! It’s a matter of Democracy, Freedom and Justice For ALL!

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Domestic Policies Martin Luther King Jr THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT

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I Have a Dream

~Martin Luther King
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 have 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 have 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. 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. 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 ever 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 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.
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. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecutions 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 down 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.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will 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 to 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.”
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Martin Luther King Jr Politics

The Character Of Dr. King – He Always Kept His Kool – Video

Dr. King appeared on The Mike Douglas Show and faced what some today might call “got’cha” questions. Watch the character of Dr. King, as he kept his kool, and calmly answered their questions, showing a clear authority on the matters he discussed.

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God Martin Luther King Jr Politics

Who Are We…Really?

The perception of who we are matters greatly in what comes from ourselves. Whether consciously or subconsciously, the woman or man that perceives themselves as ‘great’ carries themselves in a manner which reflects their state of mind. Whether their ‘great’ self perception is agreed upon by others is relative to what comes from the individual, be it the great energy he or she brings to the environment or actual works of accomplishment.

Who Are We… Really?

Just like our individual selves, our communities, our homes, our nation, our very planet and its condition reflects the world communities perception of who and what we are collectively. Whether by the ‘ACTIVE WILL’ of those bold enough to forge ahead and accomplish (for better or worse), or by the ‘PERMISSIVE WILL’ of those who sit in the back of the bus while others drive the bus…. “any resemblance of circumstances in recent memory is NOT a coincidence”.

From those who control international agendas to the common sheep-oh-uh, I mean person….we ALL have our energy stain and fingerprints on the now bubbling cauldron that is our world. So who are we really? What is our perception of ourselves as a nation? What can we tell about our collective state of mind by what our nations hands have shaped?

As we sit at the precipice of yet another military action, this time on the African nation of Libya, we need to think consciously, “is THIS who I am?” As we watch while our political leaders spend billions of our dollars a month on wars that cost the lives of young soldiers only to enrich the coffers of über wealthy contractors and corporations while schools close and educators become jobless, we need to contemplate with a clear mind, “is THIS who I am?”

Its so easy to change the personal pronoun “I” for the pronoun “they,” but as long as we sit on the back of this bus and just go along for the ride… “WE ARE THEY”.

The honorable Dr. Martin Luther King in his illustrious speech in Montgomery Alabama 1965 said, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice”. And I say to you today that WHO WE ARE IN ALL TRUTH IS… we are living, breathing, thinking, functional parts of the whole system of life in all its order and glory. We are one with the universe in mind, body and spirit, and as the universal law of justice inevitably drops its gavel… let us strive to be who WE REALLY ARE in our original universal garments of freedom, justice and equality.

As we saw in the recent tsunami in Japan, when its time for nature to express herself there is no army to stand between us and her. When its time for the harvesting of sown seeds, Sarah Palin’s scripted bumper sticker type punch lines won’t be a sufficient distraction for those in need to continue to tune out reality.

Before we were intoxicated by the modern day ‘Pharos magicians’ dazzling our minds with shiny objects of illusion, an independent thought did not seem so far fetched. Before the new Jordan’s, Brooks brothers suits and sagging jeans, we were clothed in the attire of universal order. Prior to tel-li-vision’s lies, where the tv tells lies to our vision, we actually saw each other. Do we really see each other now… as we are? Who are we … really?

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