50 years ago this evening...

[Docreed2003]

As relevant tonight as it was that evening. I would encourage all of you to read the full text of the speech.


Here's an annotated version from NYT:


https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/02/us/king-mlk-last-sermon-annotated.html

[sheshe2]

1. It has been said that it was economic justice MLK was after.

That is not what he said at all.

That is where we are today. And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn’t done, and in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I’m just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period, to see what is unfolding. And I’m happy that he’s allowed me to be in Memphis.

snip

And that’s all this whole thing is about. We aren’t engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God’s children. And that we don’t have to live like we are forced to live.

snip

And I want to say tonight, I want to say that I am happy that I didn’t sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream. And taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been around in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can’t ride your back unless it is bent. If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill. If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have had a chance later that year, in August, to try to tell America about a dream that I had had. If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been down in Selma, Alabama, to see the great movement there. If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been in Memphis to see a community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering. I’m so happy that I didn’t sneeze.

...........................

To bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed.

We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God’s children.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been around in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can’t ride your back unless it is bent.

Thank you Docreed.

[Docreed2003]

2. Thank you! And you're most welcome!

[sheshe2]

3. Very moving speech from Martin on the eve of his death.

His speech was about economic justice, sure. Yet anyone that stops there did not hear, or care to hear the rest.

I am a man.

Thank you for the OP and full text, Docreed.

[NurseJackie]

4. Thank you.

[sheshe2]

5. Hey.

There is enough racial injustice in this world. We do not need to hear it from those that supposedly stand with us.

It ain't just the economics. Never has been.

I am a man.

[slumcamper]

8. Justice--in every form

What higher principle to shape one's life's work can there be?

[Cha]

14. It's obvious there were

and are more important factors facing African Americans before economic justice.. that is not the end all answer to the racist bullshite that was coming at African Americans for centuries.. ".. and still around in more subtle ways today.."***

A brief history of racism in the United States***

https://www.soundvision.com/article/a-brief-history-of-racism-in-the-united-states

You might say they're Very Important Identity Politics.

Mahalo for the quotes from Martin Luther King, she

[lastlib]

6. How many times in the past 50 years America has needed to hear his voice....

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --


Thank you for posting this, Docreed! It should be required viewing for every American.

[Blue_true]

7. I remember that speech. It seems that he was predicting an early death.

I wonder if any threats had been made against him and why the FBI didn't step in to route those threats out.

BTW, that speech was all about attainment of basic human rights. As I wrote before, economic rights HAVE NEVER ACCRUED to those that don't have basic human rights.

[BobTheSubgenius]

9. My wife and I talked about this earlier this evening.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be married to someone with whom your values and leanings don't resonate. Trust me when I say that that would NEVER happen to me, because I would chafe every single day....but some people do it.

How???

Oh, yeah. Turns out we each know someone that marched with Dr. King. That's a fairly cool thing, I believe.

[gay texan]

10. It must have been terrifying to live through that time

His legacy lives on

[Nevernose]

11. Pharaohs Formula

“We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.”

Sometimes it feels like we’re still fighting over Pharaoh’s scraps. And it feels like Pharaoh prefers it that way.

Si se puede. ALL of our lives are at stake.

[hfojvt]

12. is it really as relevant tonight?

In what respect?

Has nothing changed? Has nothing gotten better? Perhaps much, much better?

Some quotes

"the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around." Is that true? Or is the glass really more than half full?

"And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya: Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same —“We want to be free.”" Is anybody saying that today? Who is not free? In what ways? Even 50 years ago were the sanitation workers really asking to be "free"? Or were they demanding more money and more respect? That seems a little bit different than freedom.

"It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence or nonexistence." That seems hyperbolic to me and also optimistic. Clearly the world, such as it is, did NOT choose non-violence 50 years ago, and yet it still exists. Is that going to be less true of the next 50 years? Because I do not see "thw world" embracing non-violence any time soon. Probably somebody is going to attack me for saying that)

"That is where we are today. And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn’t done, and in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. " Again, hyperbolic and hopeful. If it is true, then how can it be just as relevant today? Was something done 50 years ago? If not, then he was wrong in what he said. If so, then why would there still be a need to do something today? And in a hurry?

"And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. " Okay, this seemed new to me. I read about this incident in "Why we can't wait" but I do not remember reading that the woman was black. Of course, it figures that I cannot find my copy of that book to verify (or refute) my memory.

"But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. " Inspiring rhetoric to close his speech, but take away the passion, and look at it. Is it true? If so, then how could it be relevant today? 50 years in the wilderness and they still have not reached the promised land? Or did they reach it in 1974 with the resignation of Nixon? What does the promised land look like?

In 1993, 8.4% of black households had over $100,000 in net worth. In 2011, that percentage was 21.5. (Of course, some of that happened because $100,000 today is not the same as $100,000 in 1993.)

On the other side, in 1993 48.8% of black households had less than $5,000 in net worth. In 2011, that percentage was 49.1. This in spite of the fact that $5,000 today will not buy what it would in 1993.

[misanthrope]

13. Polarization in action

It was pointed out in tonight's airing of Henry Louis Gates' "Black America since MLK" that an unintended consequence of the Civil Rights Era has been greater isolation of poorer black Americans from middle class black Americans.

[hfojvt]

18. wasn't that part of the dream though?

Now instead of all of them just being "negroes" (as MLK would say it), they can be judged by the content of their character.

They can join the white middle class in believing that their success is a result of their character - hard work, good choices, etc. and that the poverty of the poor is a result of their lack of character.

One other thing about poverty though, is perhaps shown in the 2002 census. 21.2% of households in the lowest quintile of income had over $100,000 in net worth. 8.6% of those in the highest income quintile had less than $5,000 in net worth.

Some of that may be a function of age, higher income people who are younger and just starting out (and have very little wealth) and higher income people who are retired (and thus now have a lower income, and yet more wealth). Still, wealth accumulation is not all about income - choices (and luck) do have an impact. I am an old man in the bottom quintile who has over $100,000 in net worth.

[Cha]

15. Mahalo so much for Martin Luther

King's Last Speech, Docreed.. on this 50th Anniversary of his passing

[Cha]

16. Haitian-American Artist Explains His Image Of MLK And trump

http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/01/18/watson-mere-artist-mlk-trump

If this is messing up your thread.. I will delete it, docreed.

[Docreed2003]

17. No indeed! Love it! TY Cha!

[Cha]

19. Alright, thank you! I missed this

reply, sorry. Just happened to see it in the thread.