Martin Luther King.

Originally posted by ivanhoe
Today I had the chance to listen via CNN to the "I have a dream" speech by that truly great man Martin Luther King, pronounced in Washington 40 years ago ...

"Free at last, free at last,
Thank God Allmighty,
We're free at ...[text shortened]... last".


....... shivers down my spine ...

IvanH.

I agree. He was a man for the times. We had arrived at a point where he was needed. I remember running home from school to watch the news out of Little Rock, Arkansas each night. Would president Eisenhour dare to do anything? He did. Federal troops to fight the local demo's. The silly old democrats standing there shaking their fists at those, both black and white, who dared to oppose their racism. George Wallace and his crowd using the guard to stifle freedom. Robert KKK Birdy Birdy Tweet Tweet spewing his hate and "racial purity" garbage from the state capitol steps... He now does it in support of democrats everywhere from the bully pulpit of the US senate. From a leadership position, no less.

I can't help but wonder if Dr. King would be a little sad to see his idea of equality turned into the current voo-doo of political correctness.

I'll have to admit that I was too busy working at the time to pay much attention to the march on selma and the gathering at the monument. It was only with passing time that I came to realize that something important happened with Dr. King at the center.

Originally posted by StarValleyWy
I agree. He was a man for the times. We had arrived at a point where he was needed. I remember running home from school to watch the news out of Little Rock, Arkansas each night. Would president Eisenhour dare to do anything? He did. Federal troops to fight the local demo's. The silly old democrats standing there shaking their fists at those, both blac ...[text shortened]... ssing time that I came to realize that something important happened with Dr. King at the center.

Hi StarValleyWy,

Don't you think there must have been a connection between the Kennedy brothers assassinations and the Martin Luther King assassination.In my view the murders were meant to break the potentially strong alliance at that time between the (poor) blacks and the (poor) whites .The Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King were the leaders of that alliance, that must have been very threatening to certain leading establishment circles inside the United States.


IvanH.

Originally posted by ivanhoe


Hi StarValleyWy,

Don't you think there must have been a connection between the Kennedy brothers assassinations and the Martin Luther King assassination.In my view the murders were meant to break the potentially strong alliance ...[text shortened]... stablishment circles inside the United States.


IvanH.

Specifically... we have to agree that the "party line", that three INDIVIDUALS -- acted alone or that there was a conspiracy in each/every case(s). I think that 3 very twisted people got fame the only way they could. The strongest "conspiracy" theory would probably be that JFK was killed by Johnson and the CIA because of JFK's (recently discovered) connection to the mob. The only reason this is remotely possible is that Johnson was capable of it. And Joe Sr. Was connected. LB Johnson had no compunction on having Ramsey Clark and Bob McNamarra "invent" the legal grounds for the Viet Nam war. Mr. Clark, as Kennedy's primary legal counil, came up with the "Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution". He is as responsible as Kennedy and Johnson for the mess that was Viet Nam. He now makes a very handsome living as an "anti-war" expert.:'( Anti-war should be made of "Better" stuff.


Sirhan Sirhan? Just a whacko, me thinks.
James Earl Ray? I have no clue. I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't a paid killing. But who paid for the killing? All we know is that some very unsavory characters prospered widely from Dr. King and Malcolm X's death. See Louis (the ferrett) Farakahn. Say? Wasn't Sirhan Sirhan a Muslum? Slippery Slope. Silly to even speculate.

I lived through the Reign of the Kennedys. If they were leaders of anything... it beats the crap out of me. I always viewed them as spoiled sycophants with no values at all. I can't remember of a single thing that either did that squares with history as it has been rewritten. Maybe that was my lack of perception. I doubt it. I did "envision" an eventual end to racism the third day that Eisenhours troops held guns on the Arkansas National Guard troops in '59. That was pretty perceptive. It only took 4 or 5 more years until the US House, then the senate came out with "Civil Rights" legislation that spelled a final doom to racism. We hope. Didn't see any Kennedy's involved in anything there. Maybe I just missed it. One or two fine speaches, but no legislation.

Don't forget that the Kennedys were of the same party as the southern gentlemen who were fighting tooth and nail to segregate the nation. Then (1959) and now ... Boston, Mass. was and is one of the leading hotbeds of racial segragation in the US. I don't think it is a co-incidence that those same "good folk" choose sycophants for their political leaders. Teddy. Barney "The Brothel" Franks. Something people tend to forget... Lincoln was a republican, and would have fought the Kennedy's tooth and nail.

Originally posted by mmanuel
Sad though that soon MLK's children are auctioning off a lot of the memorablilia of that speech - i.e. original drafts etc - for an estimated $30million. Even sadder though it is not for any form of charitable cause, just lining their own pockets.

Interestingly MLK's final draft of his speech did not include the "i have a dream" paragraph - that was just ad-libbing

I didn't know that. That is sad...
Maybe the fact that "I have a dream!" came from the moment is why it grabbed us all. His voice was so "sure" at that moment... It made me sure.