43 Years after King Assassination the Fight for Civil Rights Continues

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights April 5, 2011 - Posted by Brianna Deitrich On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while in Memphis, Tenn., defending the fundamental rights to fair pay, safe working conditions, and an equal voice in solidarity with more than one thousand city sanitation workers on strike for better wages and benefits. This week, the civil and human rights community remembers and honors King’s sacrifice and commitment to economic justice and workers rights by uniting with union members, students, and other advocates for the “We Are One” campaign. “We Are One” grew organically out of the attacks on collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states, and is made up of a diverse coalition of local, state and national community leaders, working people, activists and individuals whom are coming together to push back and to show unity in the face of attacks on collective bargaining rights, voting rights, women, immigrants, and public service programs. Full Story: http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2011/04/1185-king.html

On King and Living a Life Beyond Fear

The Root Forty-three years to the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s slaying, those who fight for social and economic justice still face real threats to their safety and rights, says the NAACP's president. By: Benjamin Todd Jealous Posted: April 4, 2011 at 12:18 AM Seventeen years ago, I was an organizer in Mississippi. And I was scared. We were planning a march to stop the governor from turning a public, historically black university, Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, into a prison. Byron De La Beckwith had just been put in prison for killing Medgar Evers -- the NAACP's field secretary in Mississippi. It was 30 years too late, but the Ku Klux Klan was still enraged that one of their own had been sentenced to prison for killing a black man. They threatened to kill me or one of the other organizers in retaliation. Full Story: http://www.theroot.com/views/king-and-living-life-beyond-fear

Martin Luther King Jr. and Silence

The Chronicle of Higher Education
January 16, 2011, 11:45 pm

By Marybeth Gasman
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., I am reminded of one aspect of him that is most compelling to me. Over and over, King warned us to refrain from keeping silent—to speak up when we encounter injustice. One of his most profound statements was: “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” King reminded us that we cannot merely sit back and watch injustice; we need to speak out and consciously push back against it.

Full Story: http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/martin-luther-king-jr-and-silence/28374?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Beck’s Perverse Honor of Martin Luther King

The Atlanta Post
August 26, 2010
Earl Ofari Hutchinson

There are 52 Saturdays in 2010 and talk show exhibitionist Glenn Beck could have picked any one of them to hold his “Restoring Honor” rally on Washington DC’s Lincoln Mall. But Beck, of course, picked August 28, the same date as the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington. Becks been repeatedly called out for picking the date to mock the civil rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
He first lied and said that he had no idea the date is a sacred day for civil rights leaders, and that it was pure coincidence he chose the date. But since that lie wouldn’t fly, Beck reversed gear and wrapped himself in the mantle of King. He’s bragged to audiences that he and conservatives are the inheritors and protectors of King’s dream. In a moment of preposterous flight of rhetoric he fantasized that he and other conservatives could see themselves beaten by police, set upon by dogs, dosed with fire hoses, and jailed on trumped-up charges.

Full Story: http://www.atlantapost.com/2010/08/26/becks-perverse-honor-of-martin-luther-king/

Civil Rights Pioneer: Post-Racial World Doesn’t Exist

AFL-CIO Now Blog
by James Parks, Jan 18, 2010

The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is a good time to assess that post-racial world we’re supposed to be living in now. So, how’s it working out?
Not very well, according to Franklin McCain. He’s one of the four trailblazing students whose sit-in 50 years ago at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., ignited a nationwide effort that resulted in passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Says McCain:
I don’t know where I was when racism disappeared from these United States of ours. This new right and the Tea Partiers have taken the position that anybody who talks about racial discrimination or affirmative action is a whiner or a civil rights pimp. We have to get off the sidelines and attack [that kind of language]….They are taking parts of our gains and using it against us. And it’s ridiculous.

McCain, 67, and three of his fellow students at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College sat down at the whites-only lunch counter in the Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro on Feb. 1, 1960, and refused to leave until they were served. Their bold action inspired protests in more than 50 cities across the South against segregated public facilities.

Picture: From left, David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair and Joseph McNeil, the four North Carolina A&T students who staged the 1960 sit-in, are shown leaving Woolworth’s.

Full Story: http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/01/18/civil-rights-pioneer-post-racial-world-doesnt-exist/

Presidential Proclamation on Martin Luther King Day

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 15, 2010
Presidential Proclamation--Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
A PROCLAMATION

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., challenged our Nation to recognize that our individual liberty relies upon our common equality. In communities marred by division and injustice, the movement he built from the ground up forced open doors to negotiation. The strength of his leadership was matched only by the power of his words, which still call on us to perfect those sacred ideals enshrined in our founding documents.
"We have an opportunity to make America a better Nation," Dr. King said on the eve of his death. "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." Though we have made great strides since the turbulent era of Dr. King's movement, his work and our journey remain unfinished. Only when our children are free to pursue their full measure of success -- unhindered by the color of their skin, their gender, the faith in their heart, the people they love, or the fortune of their birth -- will we have reached our destination.
Today, we are closer to fulfilling America's promise of economic and social justice because we stand on the shoulders of giants like Dr. King, yet our future progress will depend on how we prepare our next generation of leaders. We must fortify their ladders of opportunity by correcting social injustice, breaking the cycle of poverty in struggling communities, and reinvesting in our schools. Education can unlock a child's potential and remains our strongest weapon against injustice and inequality.
Recognizing that our Nation has yet to reach Dr. King's promised land is not an admission of defeat, but a call to action. In these challenging times, too many Americans face limited opportunities, but our capacity to support each other remains limitless. Today, let us ask ourselves what Dr. King believed to be life's most urgent and persistent question: "What are you doing for others?" Visit http://www.mlkday.gov/ to find Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service projects across our country.
Dr. King devoted his life to serving others, and his message transcends national borders. The devastating earthquake in Haiti, and the urgent need for humanitarian support, reminds us that our service and generosity of spirit must also extend beyond our immediate communities. As our Government continues to bring our resources to bear on the international emergency in Haiti, I ask all Americans who want to contribute to this effort to visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/HaitiEarthquake.
By lifting up our brothers and sisters through dedication and service -- both at home and around the world -- we honor Dr. King's memory and reaffirm our common humanity.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 18, 2010, as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I encourage all Americans to observe this day with appropriate civic, community, and service programs in honor of Dr. King's life and lasting legacy.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-martin-luther-king-jr-day

Editorial: King's light still illuminates

MetroWest Daily News
GHS
Posted Jan 18, 2010 @ 08:23 AM
Today's holiday is no stale memorial to a historical figure. Martin Luther King Jr. remains near the center of our national conversation, even 41 years after his death.
Opponents of affirmative action in any sphere quote King's most famous speech, declaring that applicants to the University of Michigan be judged "not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Defenders of such policies also call Dr. King as a witness. King was a supporter of affirmative action, arguing that a runner whose legs have been shackled by slavery cannot be expected to compete fairly in the race of life. Affirmative action gives minorities the head start they need and deserve, he said.
The inauguration of the first African-American president a year ago puts a new light on that discussion, causing us to think again of the proper balance between the values of color-blindness versus giving a fair shake to those who have been disadvantaged by circumstance or prejudice.

Full Editorial: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinions/editorials/x1685417831/Editorial-Kings-light-still-illuminates

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day - A Day of Reflection

AAAA acknowledges and celebrates the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the occasion of his birth. For those who would like to recall his momentous speech given at the March on Washington in 1963, click on the video on the lower right side of this blog. As we witness the most tragic effects of the earthquake in Haiti today, we must wonder what Dr. King would say and do in the midst of this crisis.

Opponents of affirmative action frequently defend their efforts to eliminate such programs by calling for a “color-blind society” and citing Dr. King’s impassioned plea for his children to be judged “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” These claims are a blatant distortion of his words. King understood that the mere enforcement of antidiscrimination guarantees was not enough to end past and continuing discrimination. In Why We Can’t Wait, Dr. King wrote:

Among the many vital jobs to be done, the nation must not only radically
readjust its attitude toward the Negro in the compelling present, but must
incorporate in its planning some compensatory consideration for the
handicaps he has inherited in the past.[1]

It is impossible to create a formula for the
future, which does not take into account that our society has been doing
something special against the Negro for hundreds of years. How then can he
be absorbed into the mainstream of American life if we do not do something
special for him now, in order to balance the equation and equip him to compete
on a just and equal basis?[2]

Whenever this issue of compensatory or
preferential treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in
horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree; but he should
ask nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable but it is not
realistic. For it is obvious that if a man is entered at the starting line
of a race three hundred years after another man, the first would have to perform
some impossible feat in order to catch up with his fellow runner.[3]

In a discussion with Dr. King about the compensatory measures taken by the Indian government to assist the Untouchables, Prime Minister Nehru explained,

“If two applicants compete for entrance into a college or university, one of the
applicants being an untouchable and the other of high caste, the school is
required to accept the untouchable.” When asked whether this was
discrimination, Nehru responded, “Well it may be. But this is our way of
atoning
for the centuries of injustices we have inflicted upon
these people.”[4]

Dr. King then wrote, “America must seek its own ways
of atoning for the injustices she has inflicted upon her Negro citizens.”

[1] Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can’t Wait, Mentor Press (Penguin Putnam, Inc.), 1963, at 134.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.

See other speeches commemorating Dr. King's birthday celebration on the website of Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/

Purchase "Why We Can't Wait" from the AAAA Bookstore: http://www.affirmativeaction.org/bookstore.html

Lowery tells Auburn audience King's achievements shouldn't be 'sanitized'

AL.com
By Bob Lowry
January 15, 2010, 9:19PM
AUBURN -- The Rev. Joseph Lowery, a Huntsville native and icon in the 1960s civil rights movement, urged an Auburn University audience Friday night not to "sanitize" Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s achievements.
Speaking at an event to mark King's birthday, Lowery said some have hijacked King's dream and used it and ensuing advancements in civil rights to, for example, try and derail affirmative action.
"I'm serious about the need to recapture the spirit of affirmative action," he said. "Affirmative action, in my mind, is not preferential treatment. It is intentional. It is being as intentional about closing the gap as we were about creating the gap."
And he said people today should not honor King as a missionary and ignore his mission. "We must not let them put Martin on this rotunda of sentimental irrelevancy and declare him a gloried social worker," he said. "I have nothing against social workers, but he was a militant, but nonviolent revolutionary."

Full Story: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/01/lowery_tells_auburn_audience_k.html

Commentary: King paved the way for Obama

CNN.com
January 15, 2009
By Clarence B. Jones
Special to CNN

Clarence B. Jones, author of "What Would Martin Say?" is Scholar in Residence at the Stanford University Martin Luther King Jr. Research & Education Institute. He was a lawyer and speechwriter for Dr. King.

Next week, the day after our national holiday commemorating the 80th birthday of Dr. King, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the first African-American elected as president.
Obama's election would not have been possible without the transformative effect of Dr. King's struggle, leadership and legacy in dismantling segregation and institutional racism in the United States.
America owes a great debt to Dr. King. Prior to him, our nation was like a dysfunctional drug addict or alcoholic, hooked and addicted to segregation and institutional racism.
His "tough love" of nonviolent direct action civil disobedience forced America to confront its conscience and the immorality of racial injustice.
Dr. King enabled our country to embark on an extraordinary journey of recovery to reclaim its soul. He enabled us to reactivate those precepts enshrined in our Declaration of Independence: "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."
In twelve years and four months, from 1956 to April 4, 1968 -- except for President Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation -- Martin Luther King Jr. may have done more to achieve racial, social and political justice and equality in America than any other person in our country's history.
Dr. King had confidence in the democratic future of America. He believed that we, as a people, would be able to "transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."
I met Martin Luther King, Jr. for the first time 49 years ago when he visited my home in California to enlist my assistance in the defense of a criminal tax indictment against him by the state of Alabama.
Only six months earlier, I had graduated from Boston University Law School. I worked for him as a law clerk, political organizer, personal lawyer and, at his request, I drafted speeches for Dr. King until his death on April 4, 1968.
He was an ordained Christian minister before he was a civil rights leader. His religious faith and abiding belief in God were the fuel that ignited the engine of his moral leadership. President-elect Obama's religion and belief in God appear central to his political leadership.
During the 40 years following Dr, King's assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, the most recurring question asked of me has been: "Who today, what black leader, if anyone, is most like Dr. King?" I would consistently answer that Dr. King was sui generis, one of a kind And, then ask rhetorically: "Who today is most like Michelangelo, Mozart, Galileo, Copernicus, Aristotle, Beethoven or Shakespeare?"
Since Obama's election, I have been asked:
• Is Barack Obama another Martin Luther King Jr?
• What would Dr. King say about the election of Obama?
• Does the election of Obama, as the first African-American president of the United States, mean that Dr. King's dream has been fulfilled?
• Does Obama's election indicate that racism for all practical purposes no longer exists in America?
• Will Obama's election have any impact on the number of African-American men incarcerated or the high percentage of out-of-wedlock births within the African-American community?
There are no easy answers to these questions, but it is clear that those of us in the civil rights movement of the 1960s never anticipated the event we will witness Tuesday.

Full commentary: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/15/jones.mlk.obama/index.html