mlk assassination's 40 anniversary honored in silence

[lazygood4nothinbum]

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[Rivrider]

It brings back a lot of sad memories of that time. We'll never know how the country might have been different had he lived. I would hope it would have been for the better.

All in all, a lot of terrible things happend in 1968.

 

[Caroline]

They just played a little snippet of his "I've been to the mountain" speech on the radio -- made the hair on the back of my head stand up.

Just imagine what he'd think if here were alive today -- a Woman and an African American running for president! I'm imagining him him watching, from wherever he is, and smiling.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

watched one of the speeches on tv. powerful guy. what struck me, as i thought indicated by my initial post, was that no one on this forum broached the topic on such an auspicious day for mlk's memory. i'm at a loss myself. i've experienced bigotry online and in "real life" mostly because i'm gay but also because i am jewish. but i can pretty much fade into the background when i want. you can not tell that i am jewish or gay by the color of my skin.

i've studied mlk and malcolm x and others in school; i lived on st. croix which was about 85% black and i had two black friends in high school at a time of racial riots (florida schools had only recently desegregated), but i am so far removed from the black experience that the only way i knew how to approach this subject on this forum was to note that no one else here seemed to know either.

 

[Rivrider]

I was a bit surprised also. This was a major event for those of us who were around then. While we have made a lot of progress on race, there is still a long way to go.

Blacks and whites still see many things from very different viewpoints. They may see racism that may not be there. We may miss it when it is. Probably both need to adjust our thinking is some ways.

 

[Wags]

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last speech

YouTube - Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last speech

MLK's speeches and his sacfrice is what gives me hope for a better tomorrow.

GOD BLESS US ALL

 

[73ss454]

I wish they would have missed and hit the guy on MLK's right.

You know the extortionist guy.

 

[brewer12345]

I think those of us of the younger crowd probably cannot understand what MLK meant to people when he was alive. We take so many things for granted that were major struggles back then. The enormous risks the man took in spreading such a radical message are hard to imagine these days.

 

[Khan]

I think those of us of the younger crowd probably cannot understand what MLK meant to people when he was alive. We take so many things for granted that were major struggles back then. The enormous risks the man took in spreading such a radical message are hard to imagine these days.

He knew he was a target. How many of us would be so brave?

 

[brewer12345]

He knew he was a target. How many of us would be so brave?

Not me. For one thing, I would never be willing to take a chance with a wife and kids.

 

[UncleHoney]

I remember 40 years ago this week very well, I was right in the middle of the crowd at Atlanta airport the day after the funeral. I was stationed at Ft Gordon Ga and on my way home for Easter.

There were literally thousands of people in the airport without tickets trying to get home. Many had come to Atlanta anyway they could from across the country to be at the funeral. The crowd were very subdued and just patiently waiting for a flight out.

I really didn't remember much of went on in the weeks before the assassination being in the Army and having limited access to daily news.

We will never know if the world would be a better place had he not died but we can do our part today to make it better.

 

[dex]

We will never know if the world would be a better place had he not died but we can do our part today to make it better.

The recent information that is coming out now is that just before his murder MLK feeling exhausted by the demands put upon him and disappointed by the recent violence at the last march. I think a NPR story said there was a posibility of him taking a pastor position at a NYC church (don't quote me on that one).
The amazing thing is how the civil rights movement hit a wall right after his killing. The march on Washington - a few weeks later - was hardly covered by the news media. The news media - especially the TV news really cut back on the civial rights movement after that. It changed its focus to things like school bussing and its contriversy - not the benefits of it.

I think MLK would have become the moral conscience for the nation when it came to civil rights. But I also think he would have been taken over by the times. The radical elements of the movement were gaining influence at the time of his death. The youth culture of the times were taking over all sectors of society. He may have been pushed aside by the younger generation.

I always wondered what would MLK; Malcom X and Bobby Seale would say if they came back to life today and looked around - I think there is a movie there. Can you imagine the 3 of them traveling around the USA and commenting as they go along? Someone gave a speach or wrote an article on with that idea about MLK but I don't remember who it was.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

I think those of us of the younger crowd probably cannot understand what MLK meant to people when he was alive. We take so many things for granted that were major struggles back then. The enormous risks the man took in spreading such a radical message are hard to imagine these days.

while i take it for granted that a black person has every right to sit anywhere in a restaurant, i don't know that all black people feel that way, knowing that at one time in the not so distant past they did not have that right. i do not imagine myself ever taking for granted the right to marry should gay people ever be considered & treated as fully human as str8 people are to enjoy such rights. so i would not assume this of black people, even where equal rights have been already granted.

the work is not done even by winning social struggle to gain basic equal rights. then there is the internal struggle to learn to trust or maybe even love the bastids who denied you those rights for so long, never mind just to learn to love yourself after you've internalized generations of mistreatment. there might even be a collective guilt in the consciousness of the larger society which might take more time to resolve.

i was just 11 when mlk was killed so most of what i know is what i've read & heard & likely misunderstood since then. not to diminish stature, but as much as mlk meant then, from martyrdom can arise mythology larger than life. or simply myth reflecting life.

but if you want to know what he meant in life, just look around. how far do you have to drive before seeing his name? what other hero, black or white or green, has been so honored?

according to USATODAY.com - MLK streets anything but easy, in 2002 "about 500 streets in the United States bear the civil rights leader's name. i've found two web sites stating there were 777 streets so named by 2007.

here is a distribution of mlk streets throughout the united states according to "the economic geographies of streets named in honor of reverend dr. martin luther king jr" found here:http://personal.ecu.edu/aldermand/pubs/MitchelsonAldermanPopke2007.pdf

i think this map speaks well both to the meaning of the man and to the disconnect between black and white america. i notice that there are no MLK BLVDs in maine.

 

[FinallyRetired]

For those of us who went through those years, it wasn't just MLK. It started with JFK in 1963, then MLK in April, 1968, and RFK in June 1968. Each of those assassinations killed not only the individuals, but the hope that they inspired. I remember the song "Abraham Martin and John.".

With JFK, we could all remember where we were when the shots were fired, and still can. With MLK, and then RFK the memories, at least mine, are muddled in the turbulence of those years. But the memory of the hopelessness that ensued, as well as the anger, remains vivid.

It's a testament to this country's greatness that we went through that and are still able to have hope in the future.

 

[Khan]

while i take it for granted that a black person has every right to sit anywhere in a restaurant, i don't know that all black people feel that way, knowing that at one time in the not so distant past they did not have that right. i do not imagine myself ever taking for granted the right to marry should gay people ever be considered & treated as fully human as str8 people are to enjoy such rights. so i would not assume this of black people, even where equal rights have been already granted.

I recall a bumper sticker (paraphrased) from the '60s:

"No one is free until we are all free"

I was born white and heterosexual and realize I was somewhat privileged as a result.

We know that the price of seeking to force our belief on others is that they might someday force their belief on us.

Mario Cuomo

 

[brewer12345]

while i take it for granted that a black person has every right to sit anywhere in a restaurant

That's just it: I cannot begin to comprehend the way things were backthen and what a stand Rev. King took because I have never seen the kind of overt, institutionalized racism that was commonplace back them. I think that is why Obama's former pastor is being pilloried today. He is the product ofthose bad, old days and continues to preach the same way he did 30 years ago. Most people don't remember (not vividly, anyway) how bad things were back then, so the Rev. Right sounds like an inflammatory race baiter.

 

[Buckeye]

I was a kid when it happened and I'll never forget the fear I felt when my mother came flying into the house crying. She must have heard about the assassination on the bus on the way home from work so she headed straight for the television when she got home. I can still see her standing in front of our black and white tv crying while watching the news.