Monday, January 17, 2011

M.L.King then, and now


This is the Martin Luther King that most people know, a man and his mission largely seen as history.

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."


Few realize that on that day on which he was killed he was on his next mission; the Poor People's Campaign. It was why he was in Memphis. He was there to seek better working conditions for the City's working poor - Sanitation workers, guys who pick up the garbage.

With Selma and the voting rights bill one era of our struggle came to a close and a new era came into being. Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. For we know that it isn’t enough to integrate lunch counters. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn’t earn enough money to buy a hamburger and cup of coffee?


Economic equality for the working poor, including Appalachian Americans, Native Americans. The struggle continues. And Martin Luther King's work, and sacrifice is important today as it was 50 years ago. Economic inequality is as great today as it was then. The struggle continues.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

You FORGOT to mention he was a Republican.

Anonymous said...

Idiot, MLK wasn't associated with either party.

Bubby said...

It is fundamentally absurd to think that any Negro leader with integrity, and a knowledge of history would affiliate with what is now called the Republican Party.

Modern Republicans like their leaders loud, ignorant, and pliable. And they continue to support Birther nuts, demand "their" country back, and refer to Barack Obama as a socialist. A charge also directed at Dr. King for his social and economic justice campaigns.

Democrats made a conscious decision during the Lyndon Johnson administration to support the civil rights movement in the face of rightwing violence. The result was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which assured Negros and others of color full access to the ballot. This so enraged and threatened Southern racist rightwing leaders that they packed up and moved to the Republican Party, where a corrupt politician named Richard Nixon welcomed them with open arms.

Anonymous said...

What have the Democrats done for Black Americans other than hold them down ?

Anonymous said...

www.nbra.info/ just to prove you wrong.

Anonymous said...

Bubby can't argue with facts like those.Bubby you just got a shellacking.

James said...

MLKJr. was NEVER a Republican, but his daddy was, senior. Like many Black people after the Civil War. When Senator John F.Kennedy intervened to get Martin Luther King Jr. out of that Georgia jailhouse for protesting, Martin's daddy promised JFK he would bring him 10 million Black votes. He did, Kennedy was elected. Kennedy was a friend to the Black man. By 1964 JFK was dead but Johnson was elected over Goldwater the Republican. Goldwater had opposed the Voting Rights Act. Johnson got the job done.

Then came Nixon and all his talk of States Rights. What that means to a Black man? A State has the Right to legalize discrimination. Suddenly all the racists found a new party, the Republican Party. Now I see they hired some nut named Frances Rice to put a whitewash on it all. Shame.

Bubby said...

Thanks James. Unlike our guests you know your history.

Sen. Barry Goldwater (R AZ) voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He ran against L.B.Johnson in 1964 and was defeated. He didn't get a chance to vote against the Voting Rights Act because he was not in the Senate any longer.

Anonymous said...

Wake up people the KKK was created by the Democrats.

Curtis said...

...and taken over by rightwing racists in 1964 to be joined with the Conservative Citizens Councils. Or as George Allen says, 'my friends'.