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Does Martin Luther King Speak For You?

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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 03:33 AM
Original message
Does Martin Luther King Speak For You?
Does MLK speak for you (still)? Yes-- the answer is yes.

It doesn’t matter if you remember, it doesn’t matter if you weren’t even born, it doesn’t matter if you agree. Those who speak truth, speak for all of us, for all time.

Those who speak truth to power, speak for all of us, for all time. Whether we like it or not; whether we appreciate it or not; whether we support them and thank them and join them-- or trail along behind throwing stones, petty comments, mean looks..........

And the message that they send is always the same:

This I do for you and for us all... and you can do it too. Join us in making this a better world.

Martin Luther King spoke truth to power and practiced what he preached-- peace, justice, non-violence. Coretta Scott King has joined him in the Spiritland, may she rest in peace. Thank you, Mrs. King, for your dedication to this nation and your sacrifice for the people.


(Photo: John Bazmore / AP)

Cindy Sheehan went to Texas and camped in a ditch. That first night, she said, 700 people showed up and all walked around grinning at each other, in wonder at it all. So simple and so powerful.

Cindy Sheehan went to the State of the Union and wore a T-shirt, representing the thousands of American service people killed in Iraq, including her son, Casey. So simple and so powerful (and legal). She was arrested.

Her presence might have been enough to send a message and cause a commotion-- maybe even enough to get her “escorted out” without the T-shirt. The person who takes a stand becomes a persona who stands for something.

These are human beings making simple human statements and taking direct actions, standing up to hypocrisy and lies with truth, courage and non-violence.





Each of us gets to decide which side we are on.


Martin Luther King's
Letter from Birmingham Jail

April 16, 1963

MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN:

<snip>

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

<>

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

<>

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may won ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there fire two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the Brat to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all"

<snip>.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.

<snip>

Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

http://www.nobelprizes.com/nobel/peace/MLK-jail.html

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file83 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 03:40 AM
Response to Original message
1. Good point my friend. These days if people do SOMETHING, anything...
Edited on Wed Feb-01-06 03:43 AM by file83
...they are called out for just doing it for "publicity" or "just causing problems" or "giving us a bad name". Yet in history, those same types of people are called "heros" or "visionaries".

Well, if the Democratic party is a party of do NOTHINGS, then maybe Cindy Sheehan is not a good representative of the Democratic Anti-War movement.

I for one like to see people call attention to a message in peaceful, meaningful, and courageous ways. Cindy Sheehan has more balls than most of the men here at the DU, no wonder they are embarrassed by her actions.
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 03:52 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. And remember, the spin cycle has only recently become so vicious
Edited on Wed Feb-01-06 03:55 AM by omega minimo
btw-- we've been round and round with this "balls" thing. Having (just) met Cindy after a speech and having her throw her arm around me and stand shoulder to shoulder like that for a while-- her courage and strength and love has a different feel than "balls."

:bounce: :kick: :bounce:
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Sleepless In NY Donating Member (749 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 04:01 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. I wonder if Dr King would have sat on his hands afrer the Katrina
debacle? You would think there would be a real fury from blacks about this, yet there is none. And I can't help but wonder why. Sometimes it feels like everyone in this country is frozen in time.
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 04:12 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. Frozen due largely to that vicious spin cycle
There is plenty of fury, black, white and other-- not enough and not reported (of course)

You're right-- the fact that Americans had those scenes on the screens and didn't recognize it for what it was.....................
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file83 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 04:41 AM
Response to Reply #2
5. It's a figure of speech, but you know that, right? Come on.....
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 10:13 AM
Response to Original message
6. It wasn't a dream
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 10:45 AM
Response to Original message
7. Mellow Out Or You Will Pay

CALIFORNIA ÜBER ALLES

I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles and never frowns
Soon I will be president…
Carter power will soon go away
I will be Führer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will meditate in school

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

Zen fascists will control you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face

Close your eyes, can’t happen here
Big Bro’ on white horse is near
The hippies won’t come back you say
Mellow out or you will pay

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

Now it is 1984
Knock knock at your front door
It’s the suede denim secret police
They have come for your uncool niece
Come quietly to the camp
You’d look nice as a drawstring lamp
Don’t you worry, it’s only a shower
For your clothes here’s a pretty flower
DIE on organic poison gas
Serpent’s egg’s already hatched
You will croak, you little clown
When you mess with President Brown

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

lryic
Jello Biafra
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 07:55 PM
Response to Reply #7
10. Message from Cindy: "What Really Happened"
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linazelle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 10:48 AM
Response to Original message
8. Thank you for posting this. Profoundly remarkable words. nt
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 07:38 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Thanks linazelle, I really appreciate that
means a lot coming from you!

You gave me the "are you for real?" treatment when I was a Newbie. (Actually you said "what's with all the icons?" :rofl:) This is great. Made my day, full circle :grouphug:
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 09:06 PM
Response to Original message
11. Those criticizing Cindy need to get busy with their own activism instead
:thumbsup:
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H2O Man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 09:10 PM
Response to Original message
12. Language skills......
perhaps more of us need to speak Martin's language ourselves.
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 09:43 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. As of yesterday, in the era of Thoughtcrime, the fiery integrity in those
eyes speaks for itself.

:patriot:
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H2O Man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 09:50 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. They are both so
beautiful that it is hard for me to imagine that they were once thought to be "dangerous." There are old-timers from the various police/intelligence agencies who remember when it was drilled into their heads that Martin was a "communist." These guys believed it, because they were in the strict cultural sub-group that was supposed to be protecting the country. It was bad enough when J. Edgar was saying Martin was friends with a communist attorney, but when he gave the "A Time to Break Silence" speech at the Riverside Church, it freaked them out. Many of these guys are still alive today, older and wiser, and they know better. I hope that they are able to convey the truth to the younger generation, because the day has come when our country is going to produce more people who walk in Martin and Rosa's path.
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 10:03 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. How comforting to call someone "communist" rather than oneself "oppressor"


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upi402 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 09:54 PM
Response to Original message
15. I remeber. We need another King
King Georege II ain't cuttin' it
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G_j Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 10:05 PM
Response to Original message
17. I think the circle has come around
and it is time
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upi402 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 10:09 PM
Response to Reply #17
18. I keep thinking it's 1965
what year do you think it is?
(if you're old enough to recall the dynamics of that time too)
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G_j Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 10:17 PM
Response to Reply #18
19. mmm..
I think back to 1968 when I first awakened to activism and a spiritual commitment to nonviolence. (I hitched to DC to demonstrate against the war.)
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 11:05 PM
Response to Reply #19
20. Ok G-j, please share your perspective: "The circle has come round"
and :wtf: (meant in the best possible way...................B-) )

Let me start over....

How did we go from Viet Nam and Watergate right back around to Iraq and Plame/Traitor/Spy/Gate WITH NO END IN SIGHT? What happened to people who lived then and now and why didn't the lessons from that time hold? Why did we let this happen?

:bounce:
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G_j Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 11:34 PM
Response to Reply #20
21. oh, it is just a feeling
that many people are maybe ready to try to live King's message instead of just paying tribute to him as a 'great man',
perhaps because many events (such as war) have intersected to shake people up and push them to acknowledge a real emergency, to see, as King once said 'the fierce urgency of now'.
It is just a feeling as I said, but I also think sometimes history does work in circles.

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samhsarah Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-01-06 11:58 PM
Response to Original message
22. thanks for posting this.
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-02-06 12:12 AM
Response to Reply #22
23. Peace
:toast:
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samhsarah Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-02-06 12:17 AM
Response to Reply #23
24. Peace.
:toast:
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omega minimo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-02-06 11:18 PM
Response to Original message
25. Quit badgering Cindy
Peace
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