General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Third Way®" types don't want to discuss the last year of M.L. King, Jr.'s life
They'll praise MLK to the skies in general terms while repeatedly
quoting his speech at the 1963 March on Washington. They'll denounce his asassination.
All these things should be done, and it's good of them to do so-but it's not enough.
Ignoring or eliding the last year of Dr. King's life is to ignore or elide a vital part of the man.
I invite you to read on:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125355148
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it.
PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley's new documentary, MLK: A Call to Conscience explores King's speech. The film is the second episode of Tavis Smiley Reports. Smiley spoke with both scholars and friends of King, including Cornel West, Vincent Harding and Susannah Heschel.
By the time King made the "Beyond Vietnam" speech, Smiley tells host Neal Conan, "he had fallen off already the list of most-admired Americans as tallied by Gallup every year." Smiley continues, "it was the most controversial speech he ever gave. It was the speech he labored over the most."
After King delivered the speech, Smiley reports, "168 major newspapers the next day denounced him." Not only that, but then-President Lyndon Johnson disinvited King to the White House. "It basically ruins their relationship," says Smiley. "This was a huge, huge speech," he continues, "that got Martin King in more trouble than anything he had ever seen or done."
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/publications/autobiography-martin-luther-king-jr-contents/chapter-31-poor-peoples
From "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.":
We have moved into an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society. We are still called upon to give aid to the beggar who finds himself in misery and agony on life's highway. But one day, we must ask the question of whether an edifice which produces beggars must not be restructured and refurbished. That is where we are now.
...We intended to channel the smouldering rage and frustration of Negro people into an effective, militant, and nonviolent movement of massive proportions in Washington and other areas. Similarly, we would be calling on the swelling masses of young people in this country who were disenchanted with this materialistic society and asking them to join us in our new Washington movement. We also looked for participation by representatives of the millions of non Negro poor-Indians, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Appalachians, and others. And we welcomed assistance from all Americans of goodwill.
From a sermon in Memphis, during a sanitation worker's strike:
And I come by here to say that America too is going to hell if she doesn't use her wealth. If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God's children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to hell. I will hear America through her historians, years and generations to come, saying, "We built gigantic buildings to kiss the skies. We built gargantuan bridges to span the seas. Through our space ships we were able to carve highways through the stratosphere. Through our submarines we were able to penetrate oceanic depths." It seems that I can hear the God of the universe saying, "Even though you have done all of that, I was hungry and you fed me not. I was naked and you clothed me not. The children of my sons and daughters were in need of economic security and you didn't provide it for them. And so you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness." This may well be the indictment on America. And that same voice says in Memphis to the mayor, to the power structure, "If you do it unto the least of these of my children you do it unto me .
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)Could you be more succinct?
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)I read the whole NPR transcript not sure how the third way is playing into this...
George II
(67,782 posts)....to a "group" they're not happy with - "Third way democrats" (??), the "oligarchy", "corporate media" (??), whatever.
Just creating an opportunity to sling stuff at those who are not 110% like them.
villager
(26,001 posts)...of 1%ers, who love seeing those below them self-dividing, and drowning in false dichotomies...
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)At least most people I know.
villager
(26,001 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)villager
(26,001 posts)n/t
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)"We either deal with racial justice or social justice, but we certainly cannot tackle them both"?
I doubt any of us feel that way.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)justice are "separate" is doing the work.. ...of 1%ers," And yes there are some very outspoken posters here that have gotten upset that some are concentrating on economic justice in lieu of social justice. They will not concede that the two are intertwined.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Glad we are on the same page I guess...
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)he was entering the race.
villager
(26,001 posts)n/t
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)the intellectual dishonesty of those who make this argument, their disingenuousness of the reasons for their doing so, or that it is straight out of the Atwater/Rove playbook, tactically speaking. But it is all revolting.
villager
(26,001 posts)...internalized all these talking points, after years of hearing how "fringe" formerly centrist/mainstream Democratic policies have now become, that it seems they can't help themselves.
Bernie sounds just like Hubert Humphrey, the Kennedy brothers and every pre-Jimmy Carter Democrat. As much as I respect Carter's post-presidential life and work, he was the first Dem to go down the path of deregulation and disaster.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)People are saying that it is possible to fight for economic justce, and make huge strides, but never get to social justice, and to leave people of color, LGBT people, women, etc. behind. That economic justice doesn't automatically lead to social justice.
I haven't seen anyone, not even very outspoken Clinton supporters, say that economic justice isn't also important. In fact I haven't seen anyone say it isn't just as important. Just that one will not automatically lead to the other.
I think people are at least to some extent talking past each other if you think anyone has said this.
Response to friendly_iconoclast (Original post)
1000words This message was self-deleted by its author.
Response to friendly_iconoclast (Original post)
friendly_iconoclast This message was self-deleted by its author.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)FlatBaroque
(3,160 posts)Registered turdmark symbol?
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Always thought these should be combined: ¤Ω
☺
stonecutter357
(12,698 posts)F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)raindaddy
(1,370 posts)Because they'd be hypocrites if they did.
G_j
(40,372 posts)I didn't see your thread, and posted a similar one.
It bothers me how some have their hair on fire about social vs. economic justice and say nothing about the destruction militarism has caused to the fabric of our society.