===martin luther king===
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) was an American Baptist minister and the most prominent leader of the civil rights movement. He is globally recognized for his commitment to nonviolent resistance to end legal segregation and racial discrimination in the United States. Born Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father later changed both their names in honor of the German reformer Martin Luther. 1955–1956 King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The 381-day protest that resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. King Jr delivered during the March on Washington, this iconic address "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963) envisioned a nation where individuals are judged by the "content of their character" rather than the color of their skin. At age 35 (1964), he became the youngest person at that time to receive the Nobel Peace Prize award for his nonviolent struggle against racial inequality. His activism was fundamental to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In his later life, he broadened his focus to address systemic poverty through the Poor People's Campaign and spoke out against the Vietnam War. A federal holiday honoring his life is observed on the third Monday of January.
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We Have Not Read MLK Enough I don’t remember Martin Luther King Jr. being the paragon of Black leadership in my home growing up. I did not go to church regularly or think deeply about Christianity, where King received a decent portion of his appreciation. My family’s conversations instead mirrored those of the Black Panther Party. We talked more about Malcolm X, Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance than about the Civil Rights Movement and King. It wasn’t until my teenage years, when my father became a Christian in a Missionary Baptist church, that peace, love, and consideration for neighbors became part of our household lexicon. I was a revolutionary-minded young man with a Swahili name, now asked to love the descendants of colonizers, slaveholders, and cultural appropriators. (Hastings Tribune; 1.16.26) READMORE>>>>> |
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Joel Bowman
King’s daughter, Bernice A. King, has said some of her father’s quotes are “cherry-picked for convenience and comfort.” That is definitely true of the “I Have a Dream” speech.
The most often-repeated line of the speech is, “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.”
In an opinion piece titled “The Whitewashing of MLK’s Legacy,” Kennith Woods said, “This singular statement has proven to be powerful and timeless — so much so, that King’s dream has largely overshadowed the rest of his speech and his life"
This statement by King has been grossly misappropriated by many on the right to forward a political agenda that is antithetical to King’s philosophy. Some right-wing pundits have misused this line from the speech to suggest King envisioned a “colorblind” America. This certainly was not the case. What King actually envisioned was an America where racial inequality would be eradicated.
Others have misused this line from King’s speech to say he would have been against affirmative action and that he believed to “make it” in America, people just need to pull themselves up by their own “bootstraps.” This is patently false.
In a 1967 interview with NBC, King said, “It’s a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps. And many Negroes by the thousands and millions have been left bootless as a result of all of these years of oppression and as a result of a society that deliberately made his color a stigma and something worthless and degrading.”
Still others, like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, have invoked King’s name while opposing those who organize to protest police brutality of Black bodies. -Rev Joel Bowman; Baptist News Global; More than a dream: The undiluted legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. 8/28.23
The most often-repeated line of the speech is, “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.”
In an opinion piece titled “The Whitewashing of MLK’s Legacy,” Kennith Woods said, “This singular statement has proven to be powerful and timeless — so much so, that King’s dream has largely overshadowed the rest of his speech and his life"
This statement by King has been grossly misappropriated by many on the right to forward a political agenda that is antithetical to King’s philosophy. Some right-wing pundits have misused this line from the speech to suggest King envisioned a “colorblind” America. This certainly was not the case. What King actually envisioned was an America where racial inequality would be eradicated.
Others have misused this line from King’s speech to say he would have been against affirmative action and that he believed to “make it” in America, people just need to pull themselves up by their own “bootstraps.” This is patently false.
In a 1967 interview with NBC, King said, “It’s a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps. And many Negroes by the thousands and millions have been left bootless as a result of all of these years of oppression and as a result of a society that deliberately made his color a stigma and something worthless and degrading.”
Still others, like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, have invoked King’s name while opposing those who organize to protest police brutality of Black bodies. -Rev Joel Bowman; Baptist News Global; More than a dream: The undiluted legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. 8/28.23