Happy Birthday, Dr King

[Jersey Yankee]

Though he was actually born on January 15th, Monday is his day. As Stevie Wonder said, "Happy Birthday to you ... Happy Birthday!!!"

Many thanks for all that you've done.

http://www.writespirit.net/inspirati...ther-king2.jpg

http://www.alan.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/king.jpg

http://markkelly.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/mlk2.jpg

http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/news/bc..._C10085288.jpg

[YankeePride1967]

Happy Birthday Dr. King. This world could certainly use your wisdom today.

[BroadwayBomber55]

Happy Birthday Dr. MLK.

[JL25and3]

I make it a point to listen to this every year. But I try not to give his other speeches and writings short shrift - tomorrow I'll read the Letter from the Birmingham Jail again, and I just reread the speech he gave the night before he was killed, the one that ended with this:

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

One of my treasures is a picture of my father shaking hands with and presenting a plaque to Dr. King.

[b-ball-lunachick]

Dr John - thank you for your post..it was chilling.

what was the plaque for?

[JL25and3]

Dr John - thank you for your post..it was chilling.

what was the plaque for?

Sorry, I checked again - dumbass me. It's not a plaque, and they're not actually shaking hands. It's a staged picture for the papers, my dad and MLK standing next to each other, holding some papers while they pretend to look at them intently.

My dad was involved with a local agency serving abused, neglected and abandoned kids - he helped set it up and served as its first president. MLK came for a fundraising dinner.

The picture is framed with a program from the dinner, with King's faded signature.

[YankeePride1967]

Sorry, I checked again - dumbass me. It's not a plaque, and they're not actually shaking hands. It's a staged picture for the papers, my dad and MLK standing next to each other, holding some papers while they pretend to look at them intently.

My dad was involved with a local agency serving abused, neglected and abandoned kids - he helped set it up and served as its first president. MLK came for a fundraising dinner.

The picture is framed with a program from the dinner, with King's faded signature.

That is awesome John, that understandably is a great thing of pride for you.

[hardrain]

a great man and true spiritual leader.

[Barb51850]

Happy Birthday Dr King. Your legacy lives on.

[Yanks4eva1]

Happy Birthday, Dr. King.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - MLK

[Beyle]

Happy birthday, MLK Jr.!


What, Brad? No dissertation?

[patrick.o]

One of my few true heros. Flawed, like all of us, but greater than most of us. I look at his framed picture every day, literally within arms reach of where I'm sitting right now, and am thankful that I've lived after him and not before him. Thanks, Rev.

[Bambino22]

Happy Birthday.

Unlike other though, I choose to remember him not so much by his more well known speeches, but by the words he was giving towards the end of his activism. His criticisms became more and more against the actual structural system itself. He fully confronted the idea that the civil rights movement should join the peace movement to combat imperialism. It's some of his best stuff IMO.

[NYYDragoon]

I often wonder, what would be have been like if he wasn't assassinated? Like Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton, or something a bit more rational?

[Bambino22]

I often wonder, what would be have been like if he wasn't assassinated? Like Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton, or something a bit more rational?

Probably something like this:

But they asked -- and rightly so -- what about Vietnam? They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.

[JL25and3]

I often wonder, what would be have been like if he wasn't assassinated? Like Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton, or something a bit more rational?

He was far beyond either of them in intellect, philosophical conviction and courage. They're not in his league.

[Jersey Yankee]

Sorry, I checked again - dumbass me. It's not a plaque, and they're not actually shaking hands. It's a staged picture for the papers, my dad and MLK standing next to each other, holding some papers while they pretend to look at them intently.

My dad was involved with a local agency serving abused, neglected and abandoned kids - he helped set it up and served as its first president. MLK came for a fundraising dinner.

The picture is framed with a program from the dinner, with King's faded signature.

That's awesome, John. Would you be able to scan this w/o damaging it? You may also wish to keep it in a safe place.

A peaceful and powerful human being like the Rev Dr King only comes aong once every lifetime, if that. He was definitely a historic and important uniter in the civil rights era.

R-I-P

[genius-24]

Happy birthday great man.
It is very hard to make common instincts unlawful.

[ArodEra]

Dr MLK. One of the few true American heroes.

[Jersey Yankee]

Happy birthday, MLK Jr.!

What, Brad? No dissertation?

No need to. I haven't researched him carefully enough to speak at length. I read about him in grade school, but never read all of his speeches, analyzed the causes of his various marches.

I just wanted to insure that everything he'd done was remembered, since he was a warm, charismatic man who was also a very powerful and compassionate speaker.

It was Ronald Reagan who'd made this a federal holiday. It's just unfortunate that he and Malcolm X, another powerful civil rights icon, were slain in the '60s. Their absence left a huge void in the civil rights movement.

As my sig says, others must carry on the mission. Once someone brings you to the promised land, you must enter it with the same distinction of someone who'd wanted to be there in the first place, and the same respect and consideration for others as those who brought you there.

Other than Mom & Dad, I don't have any greater American Hero than Rev Martin Luther King, Jr, PhD.

[DontHateOnNumber2]

Happy Birthday Dr. King. This world could certainly use your wisdom today.

I couldn't have said it better myself. Most of what I know about Dr. King I learned in school, and in regards to his speeches "I have a dream" is pretty much all I've ever heard or read. Reading some of the posts from his other speeches gave me goosebumps. RIP Dr. King.

[b-ball-lunachick]

Sorry, I checked again - dumbass me. It's not a plaque, and they're not actually shaking hands. It's a staged picture for the papers, my dad and MLK standing next to each other, holding some papers while they pretend to look at them intently.

My dad was involved with a local agency serving abused, neglected and abandoned kids - he helped set it up and served as its first president. MLK came for a fundraising dinner.

The picture is framed with a program from the dinner, with King's faded signature.

Still very very cool John. Sounds like your dad was a special person too...

[jlw1980]

He was far from perfect, but a great human being.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34882891...and_ethnicity/

Some 40-plus years ago my evenings were filled with nightly, TV, news images of children near my own age. Images of police dogs ripping at exposed flesh. Images of young girls huddled against walls trying to shelter themselves from the stinging needles of high-pressure fire hoses. And images of, ugly, stormy, shouts from enraged mobs as children … children near my own age just tried to go to school. These were the images that tempered my awakening, you see it was 1963 and I was an idealistic Twelve going on 13.

It was 100 years, a century, after the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet you could still find places in America where blacks were expected to give up their seat on buses to any white person. A time when you could find toilets and drinking fountains marked “whites only” and “colored only.” It was also a time of massive, landslides of change. You see, I was brought up believing that America worked and it was these images that first caused me to question what I had been taught. Confusion and distrust were fast becoming my nightly bedfellows. America was becoming a riddle.

Then one day in August of 1963 I caught part of a speech from our nation's capital and even at 13, goose bumps rose on my flesh. It was here that I realized that the greatness in America exists in its people — people with the freedom and courage to fight a good fight. I realized that America is only what we make of it, good or bad, and we can only make America great if we adhere to the ideals embraced by our founders. America is a gift not given but earned, over and over again.

It took a man in a dark suit, a white shirt, a narrow tie and dark skin to resolve my confusion. I realized that freedom and justice while promised to us must be demanded and fought for whenever they are denied. America’s greatness lies in allowing this fight and we as citizens celebrate the ideals of our forefathers by parading these rights in the streets, demanding them at the foot of our most holy shrines and shouting them from every mountain top.

And, on that August day I remember ringing down from the Lincoln Memorial these words from that speech: “I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream …"

Martin Luther King Jr. taught me what America could be and I still have tears of thanks in my eyes when I reflect on that great American! -- Michael Leibow, Torrance Calif.

RIP, Dr. King. The world is a better place because you were in it. A coward took you from it far too soon.

[Jersey Yankee]

He was far from perfect, but a great human being.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34882891...and_ethnicity/



RIP, Dr. King. The world is a better place because you were in it. A coward took you from it far too soon.

Sig-worthy, Jenn. Very to the point and strong, like the man himself.

[WashingtonYankee]

Happy Birthday to one of the classiest people that has ever lived. Your dream leads on with us and generations to come.

[Tifoso]

A true American hero.

[Bambino22]

A true American hero.

I agree. Look at my sig for proof.

[Tifoso]

I agree. Look at my sig for proof.

The exception that proves the rule

He helped to right a great wrong. For that he is a hero. His politics really don't enter into the discussion at all. He saw the brotherhood of all men because of his faith, not his politics.

[Tifoso]

Incidentally, everyone knows about the brilliance of his "I have a dream" speech.

Have a listen to the speech he gave the night before he died.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3993644n

[Bambino22]

The exception that proves the rule

He helped to right a great wrong. For that he is a hero. His politics really don't enter into the discussion at all. He saw the brotherhood of all men because of his faith, not his politics.

"I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights don't mix, they say. Aren't you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live."


"I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. And I believe everyone has a duty to be in both the civil-rights and peace movements. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both."


"true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring"

[Tifoso]

Not sure if the link above works....(my home computer is molasses)

If not, try this one http://cnettv.cnet.com/mlk-night-bef...-50029193.html

[Tifoso]

Here it is--really listen to the part 5 minutes on

http://catalog.dalnet.lib.mi.us/ipac...IB&term=225032

It sure seems like he knew