Martin Luther King was a man of non-violence.
He led his people to greater freedom.
MLK showed others the righteousness of his beliefs.
His words ring as true today as back at the time of his death.
We Have A Dream.
To hear Martin Luther King's Speech I HAVE A DREAM, please go to the following URL
Written 8/26/2013
August 28, 1963 hundreds of thousands of Americans assembled in Washington DC to march for Jobs and Freedom. They gathering had a good number of whites, but the marchers were predominantly black and very brave considering how the police treated any congregation of coloreds with violence.
The DC police had mobilized the entire force and its chief had called in the National Guard to maintain order and had gone so far as to forbid liquor sales in the capitol.
The sound system at the Lincoln Memorial had been vandalized and organizers had demanded Attorney General Robert F Kennedy for a replacement.
The US Army made the necessary connections and the next day the area around the Reflecting Pool was occupied by the largest gathering of African-Americans ever held in the USA. The mainstream media expected mayhem. None expected peace from blacks. They were wrong.
A moment of silence was observed for the passing of W. E. B. DuBois and according to Wikipedia Roy Wilkins told the crowd, "Regardless of the fact that in his later years Dr. Du Bois chose another path, it is incontrovertible that at the dawn of the twentieth century his was the voice that was calling you to gather here today in this cause."
Speakers from the SNCC, CORE, and SCLC extolled immediate action against racism.
With good reason.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s took to the podium.
I was twelve years old and watched his speech on a Zenith TV.
I knew no black people.
I lived in a suburb south of Boston.
His words struck my soul.
The preacher had a dream and I have shared that dream throughout my life.
One day we will enter the Promised Land.
To hear his words please go to the following URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs
In April 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to address a gathering at the Masonic Temple. The city's black sanitation workers had walked off the job to protest working condition and low wages. The speech keynoted by the phrase 'I've been to the mountaintop."
That night King stayed at the Lorraine Hotel with civil rights activist Ralph Abernathy.
As the group prepared to leave according to biographer Taylor Branch, King's last words were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at a planned event. King said, "Ben, make sure you play 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."
A shot rang out from across the street.
A bullet struck King's cheek and detoured down his spine.
He never regained consciousness.
A white man fled the boarding house.
The FBI put James Earl Ray of the Most Wanted list.
He escaped capture in the USA only to be arrested in London's Heathrow Airport two months after the shooting.
A good part of the nation was in mourning.
America was ruled by the gun.
Coretta King, his wife, showed dignity.
His followers acted with restrain.
Not the police.
They beat blacks without mercy.
The officers of the law only protected and served one group.
The KKK.
And Nazis.
Cities burned across America.
The USA was out of control, but back under the fist of white power.
But we have a dream.
Martin Luther King's dream.
The dream lives on.
