A MAN, A DREAM

[Jon]

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff79/walterodim_photos/Martin_Luther_King_Jr_NYWTS.jpg

[jayson]

Of the many many things that MLK said/wrote which have been a huge influence on me, this one always stands out...

"A time comes when silence is betrayal..."

It is from his speech entitled "Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence" given April 4, 1967 in New York City's historic Riverside Church. If anyone wants to read the speech in its entirety, you can find a transcript here...

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

[Jon]

I like his "Letters from a Birmingham Jail," myself.

[jayson]

I do as well Jon.

Aside from the "I Have a Dream" speech which I knew from childhood, "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" was the first of King writings that I encountered. It showed that even at such a young age, the foundations of his thinking were solid.

[ladysai]

I imagine Dr. King is fairly proud of how far we have progressed since his passing.
Not a perfectly fair or equal society, yet...
but, we are headed in the right direction, I think.

[jayson]

I imagine Dr. King is fairly proud of how far we have progressed since his passing.
Not a perfectly fair or equal society, yet...
but, we are headed in the right direction, I think.

In some areas I think he would be. In others, I think he'd be appalled at how little has changed since his death. Specifically, I turn again to the "Beyond Vietnam" speech. It was very late in the game (only a year before his murder) that King really started to speak out against the violence he saw his country perpetuate against the people of other nations as well as the economic strain these military exploits put on the US economy.

I suspect King would be none too pleased with the continuation of this kind of action on our part, specifically regarding Iraq. The US government's expenditure on such an unnecessary war is simply obscene.

[Jon]

A CNN poll showed that 69% of all African Americans believe that Dr. King's dream is fulfilled with Obama's election.

I'm not so sure.

[jayson]

I'm not convinced either. I think his election shows we have made some major strides forward as a nation and we should be proud, but it should also make us want to fight harder to make the "dream" a reality for everyone. There are many ways in which people's civil rights are impinged upon and they must all be addressed.