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Pic Of The Moment: Freedom (Original Post) EarlG Jan 2014 OP
K & R mountain grammy Jan 2014 #1
K&R Crewleader Jan 2014 #2
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" lunasun Jan 2014 #3
Yes! K&R nt TBF Jan 2014 #4
K&R LiberalElite Jan 2014 #5
it can't be overstated or ever truly known. barbtries Jan 2014 #6
"abraham, martin and john"--dion niyad Jan 2014 #7
thank you for posting those videos barbtries Jan 2014 #16
you are most welcome niyad Jan 2014 #24
I thought Moms Mabley was just a comedienne. Didn't know she could make me cry. tclambert Jan 2014 #19
I was familiar with her comedy, but had no idea she could sing. that song did make me cry, too. niyad Jan 2014 #25
This is a very significant quote. Enthusiast Jan 2014 #8
I long for the days when we had real leaders whose lives stood by their word, loudsue Jan 2014 #15
Me too. Enthusiast Jan 2014 #20
His words still speak volumes! calimary Jan 2014 #9
Excellent choice of quote, EarlG. brer cat Jan 2014 #10
K&R blue14u Jan 2014 #11
Could He Have Predicted... BodieTown Jan 2014 #12
K&R mc51tc Jan 2014 #13
Wonderful! Thank you. JDPriestly Jan 2014 #14
Kick & highly recommended. William769 Jan 2014 #17
Neither is Justice. Spitfire of ATJ Jan 2014 #18
HUGE K & R !!! WillyT Jan 2014 #21
K&R Coyotl Jan 2014 #22
K&R! MarianJack Jan 2014 #23
...to achieve real equality, the United States will have to adopt a modified form of socialism"... jtuck004 Jan 2014 #26
Big K&R Sissyk Jan 2014 #27

lunasun

(21,646 posts)
3. We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal"
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 11:25 AM
Jan 2014

and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany.

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

tclambert

(11,080 posts)
19. I thought Moms Mabley was just a comedienne. Didn't know she could make me cry.
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 03:00 PM
Jan 2014

She made that song sound so personal.

niyad

(112,434 posts)
25. I was familiar with her comedy, but had no idea she could sing. that song did make me cry, too.
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 08:53 PM
Jan 2014

loudsue

(14,087 posts)
15. I long for the days when we had real leaders whose lives stood by their word,
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 02:12 PM
Jan 2014

and their word and their lives stood for the majority of the people.

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
20. Me too.
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 03:01 PM
Jan 2014

This nation has never had such a collection of misfit, corrupted "leaders" in its entire history.

calimary

(80,699 posts)
9. His words still speak volumes!
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 12:40 PM
Jan 2014

You will yet have your full dream realized, Dr. King! 'Cause we're gonna keep working toward it. And we're not gonna give up on it.

BodieTown

(147 posts)
12. Could He Have Predicted...
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 01:40 PM
Jan 2014

...that in 2014, our idea of demanding freedom would be to post messages on various blogs?

I remember wearing anti-Vietnam armbands and participating in moratoriums way back when...actually marching in demonstrations. Four dead in Ohio.

Today's efforts strike me as yesterday's equivalent of writing sternly worded letters to the editor.

JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)
14. Wonderful! Thank you.
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 01:56 PM
Jan 2014

I would like to focus on this concept in Dr. King's speech:

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action.

. . . .

We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?"

. . . .

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

. . . .

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

The struggle for justice continues. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words inspire hope in me, but also remind me of just how far we have to go to achieve his dream of justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was not only a saint, a leader of mankind and a prophet, but a poet who, in this letter, left a legacy for us and our children, guidance to follow in our interactions with others and our inner-actions with ourselves.

Self-purification is the secret to success in non-violent protest. Self-purification, prayer, meditation, becoming quiet and in harmony within, gaining control over one's natural instinct to survive, to retaliate, to meet anger with anger, violence with violence. Call it what you will. That is the key to non-violent conflict resolution.

It struck me that Dr. King emphasized that NEGOTIATION was the goal of his non-violent protest. Non-violent protest that is not targeted toward negotiation is unlikely to be viewed by those who observe it in progress as being useful or successful. It is likely to be discouraging to those who practice. It leads to a sense of failure and in fact does not change much.

This was one of the weaknesses of the early Occupy movement. I think that now, the Occupy movement has matured and that its activists are not merely meeting and discussing wrongs that need to be righted but are actually, small in number though they are, beginning to demand change and negotiations in a way that is more likely to produce results and change. Of course, they are carrying Dr. King's mission one step further in that the Occupy movement, now out of its tent cities is focusing on the challenges of economic injustice of which racism is one of many manifestations.

Thanks so much for posting this. It is so inspiring. I was thrilled to read the words once again. I lived through the civil rights era. I lived in the South shortly before the civil rights era. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s description of the humiliation and pain of people of color in the South (and it wasn't just African-Americans who were denied so much as the courtesy of staying in a hotel with white people in many places) is vivid but I will witness that it was very accurate. And that from me, a white teenager who was not habituated to the oppression of segregation in early childhood.

I would like to mention that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s writing and speaking style was biblical. I know that a lot of DUers have difficulty dealing with some of the theology and certainly much of the history of the Christian religion. But the King James Bible is beyond its religious value a wonderful literary and spiritual (in any sense of the word) treasure. It's really worth reading it once in a while even if you are not "religious" because it is such a beautiful book of poetry.

In my view, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s religious faith was what enabled him to understand the process of self-purification that was the foundation of his success as a civil rights leader. It is not necessary to agree with every detail of a religion's theology. The essential strength in a religious faith is that it allows one to have a sense of something greater than oneself and to forget one's own interests and passions and give one's strength to a great purpose. (I suppose that some scientists who forget themselves in their work and who reject religion might be surprised to learn that I think that they have a sort of religious faith because of their dedication to finding out the truth, a goal higher than their individual selves.)

That is why I consider Martin Luther King, Jr. to be a saint. He embodied a saintly selflessness that gave hims, both in his death and in his life, the quiet strength to bring justice not only to African-Americans but to people of all races.

When my daughter told her three-year-old son about Dr. King, he replied that he wanted Martin Luther King, Jr. to come to his house and play with his toys. Let's all invite Dr. King into our homes today. And thank you, EarlG for helping us welcome him into our hearts.

 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
26. ...to achieve real equality, the United States will have to adopt a modified form of socialism"...
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 10:20 PM
Jan 2014

From The Officially Deleted Dr. King, here.


...
The Trumpet of Conscience does not jibe well with the conventional domesticated and whitewashed image of King that is purveyed across the nation ever year during and around the national holiday the bears his name. That image portrays King as a moderate reformer who wanted little more than a few basic civil rights adjustments in a mostly benevolent American System – a loyal supplicant who was tearfully grateful to the nation’s leaders for finally making those adjustments.

The official commemoration says nothing about the Dr. King who studied Marx sympathetically at a young age[1] and who said in his last years that “if we are to achieve real equality, the United States will have to adopt a modified form of socialism” [2]. It deletes the King who wrote that the “real issue to be faced” beyond superficial matter was “the radical reconstruction society of society itself.”[3]

In his first talk (“Impasse in Race Relations”), King reflected on how little the black freedom struggle had actually attained beyond some fractional changes in the South. He deplored “the arresting of the limited forward progress” blacks and their allies had attained “by [a] white resistance [that] revealed the latent racism that was [still] deeply rooted in U.S. society.”
...
Such a revolution would require “more then a statement to the larger society,” more than “street marches” King proclaimed. “There must,” he added, “be a force that interrupts [that society’s] functioning at some key point.” That force would use “mass civil disobedience” to “transmute the deep rage of the ghetto into a constructive and creative force” by “dislocate[ing] the functioning of a society.”
...



"The most powerful weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
Steven Biko

He understood this, I think.
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