Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
- Thread starter Gazoo
- Start date
In some ways it's harder!
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. King has become a national icon in the history of American progressivism.[1]
A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia in 1962, and organized nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police response. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history. He also established his reputation as a radical, and became an object of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's COINTELPRO for the rest of his life. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, recorded his extramarital liaisons and reported on them to government officials, and one occasion, mailed King a threatening anonymous letter that he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide.
On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence. In 1965, he and the SCLC helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, and the following year, he took the movement north to Chicago. In the years leading up to his death, he expanded his focus to include poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam". King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., called the Poor People's Campaign.
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. His death was followed by riots in many US cities. Allegations that James Earl Ray, the man convicted of killing him, had been framed or acted in concert with government agents persisted for decades after the shooting, and the jury of 1999 civil trial found Loyd Jowers to be complicit in a conspiracy against King. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor.
Happy Birthday Brother Minister
R.I.P. To one of the pioneers Dr. King
Very much harder mainly because so many don't see the struggle. Just looking at what the president has been dealing with is a strong indicator as to how far we still need to go.
Absolutely right. A few blacks have secured wealth and we also look at President Obama and we think we've arrived. Especially young blacks. And whites deny their racism. Whereas in the past they were blatant.
It was hard years ago but we knew where we stood and had to develop our own economic center.
The fact is that the percent of black businesses and poverty haven't changed in over 100 years.
True.
This man had the juice. I don't know if there will ever be another leader that can move such a large mass of Black America like the King.
Every time this part of the year comes around I catch myself ranting on facebook about how we need to be more aware of our struggle. My rant comes off more venomous than it does moving. I'll pass this time because the energy it brings out of me is explosive....
Yep, white use money as a smoking mirror to hide their agenda.
Whites are still blatant with their racism. We have just become more unaware of what racism is. Most Blacks would associate racism by just being called a n*gger and not understanding the true power structure behind it.
I think President Barack has been able to do that in a certain way. Because the visible attacks are different from 1955 and 1920 and 1870 the fight of 2013 are also different. For example today we don't need a non-violent speech or march. But we do need a national movement for economic development.
Happy birthday!
Obama does have that power, but the difference is that he has strings attached to him and the King didn't.
I'm not sure what that movement is going to be. We are becoming too spread out in out thinking that it is going to take something powerful to bring us back together and keep us together.
It seems like injustice situations like 'Jena 6' and Treyvon incited some type of movements, but like usual there is no follow up after that.
Enjoy the day brothers. Historic!.....
Excellent post my brother! Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
I'm not sure if there is another leader either but for the betterment of us all we need to come together. We need to unite and become more vocal to ensure our needs are heard and met. There probably won't be a better opportunity in our lifetime. Besides we've already waited too long. There may not be another leader but a united people cannot be ignored forever.
As for your rants...keep on ranting because so many today remain clueless and must be reached. Its not like it was back in the day. Then we had dozens of voices who spoke out for the black cause and equality. Keep on ranting because the message still need to be heard.
You're right. We do see traces of the King movement in local struggles such as Jena 6 and Treyvon Martin. Even in my area an innocent man shot and killed by cops in New Brunswick drew marches on city hall.
We may never see another national leader like King but we will see local independent action.
no disrespect, but somebody needs to throw Colin Powell in this picture and caption it!
Happy MLK Day.
