MLK

MLK’s Hate Mail Parallels Criticism Of Black Lives Matter Movement

January 19, 2016 David Matthews, www.fusion.net Educate! #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Hate Speech, MLK

By David Matthews for Fusion - In the last year or so, as the Black Lives Matter movement has taken off, the cause has been criticized by (mostly) white people asking, “Yeah, but what about this?” It turns out that this argument has been in style for at least half a century. Indeed, this type of discourse is nothing new, as we can see when we examine the hate mail that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. receivedduring the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It’s overwhelming how the fear of the status quo being changed has been something white America can’t stop thinking about–and loudly announcing how it’s a problem–for so long now.

MLK For Sale? How To Package A Radical

January 18, 2016 Buzzanco, www.afflictthecomfortable.org Resist! MLK, US history

By Buzzanco for Afflict The Comfortable - Every year around this time, Americans shower Martin Luther King, Jr. with love. Since 1986 his birthday has been a national holiday, providing all of us with a chance to learn more about him. School kids get exposed to the nature of African American life under apartheid in the South; symposia and talks are given discussing King’s legacy; King’s experiences are examined under the lens of current racial tensions; stores can have MLK Day sales; and the marketing opportunities are endless.

Protesters Block Access To Police Credit Union

January 18, 2016 Marwa Eltagouri, www.chicagotribune.com Resist! Chicago, MLK, Police, Protests

By Marwa Eltagouri for the Chicago Tribune - About 200 protesters gathered outside the Chicago Patrolmen's Federal Credit Union on Saturday, their breath visible in the cold air as they chanted, their fists pounding with each cry. They were determined to shut down Saturday morning's business for the credit union, across the street from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, Chicago's police union. For nearly two hours, Black Youth Project 100 Chicago Chapter members, dressed in black T-shirts with the words "Fund Black Futures" written across them, linked their arms together to form a barricade around the bank's front desk, stopping workers from conducting business.

Protests, Boycott Greet Rahm Emanuel At MLK Breakfast

January 17, 2016 Bill Ruthhart and Juan Perez Jr., www.chicagotribune.com Resist! #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Chicago, MLK, Police violence, Rahm Emanuel

By Bill Ruthhart and Juan Perez Jr. for the Chicago Tribune. For 30 years, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Breakfast hosted by Chicago's mayor has had a political undercurrent, as politicians from across the city paid tribute to the legendary civil rights leader while paying attention to the important constituency of African-American voters. But on Friday, the event became a political spectacle. Those who chose to attend Emanuel's event were greeted by about 20 angry protesters shouting "Shame on you!" as Chicago police worked to keep the group of demonstrators from blocking the entrance to the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. The breakfast itself was interrupted three times by protesters. Ministers produced a list, claiming that more than 100 pastors had chosen to boycott the breakfast. "The mayor had to go to his old tactics of bringing busloads of people in from the nursing homes, retirement centers to bring some black faces in to fill the room."

Beyond Capitalism: A Revolution Of Values

January 17, 2016 Nancy Price, www.thealliancefordemocracy.org Create! Eisenhower, Imperialism, Martin Luther King Jr, militarism, MLK, Poverty, Racism

By Nancy Price, for the Alliance for Democracy. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most revolutionary 1967 speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” marked his movement, from civil rights to a critique of capitalism, a year before he died. Looking “beyond Vietnam,” King questioned a US policy of interventions in foreign countries to defeat not only “Communist tyranny,” but any opposition to the corporate-capitalist system of imperialism and oppression that protects corporate interests and the wealth and power of the ruling classes. “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people,” he said, “the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

Prophecy Delivered! Martin Luther King Jr. & The Death of Democracy

January 15, 2016 Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, www.truth-out.org Educate! Democracy, MLK, Poverty, Racism, Wars and Militarism

By Rev. Osagyefo Sekou for Truthout. Democracy is dead. It has always been an afflicted creature - hobbling about - wounded at its very being. An enslaving disposition corrupted the United States before it matured. Its spiritual death was foretold, but the nation refused to hear the black voices crying out in the wilderness. A year before the racist, materialist and militaristic ax cut King down, he warned the nation of its demise. The now infamous "A Time to Break the Silence" speech at the Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, was a stern warning against the maladies of the American spirit - materialism, racism and militarism. The year between the Riverside speech and his assassination proved to be a radical one. As though he was racing against death's chariot, King accelerated his critique of the United States and took up more radical tactics.

Pope Highlights Activists In Address To Congress

September 24, 2015 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Dorothy Day, MLK, Pope Francis, Thomas Merton

By Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance - In his speech to a Joint Session of Congress Pope Francis focused on environmental degradation, the death penatly, poverty and immigration and framed his discussion by highlighting three activists along with Abraham Lincoln. The three activists were the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. We have covered Dr. King a great deal on Popular Resistance but have not covered Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. The roots of Dorothy Day's political philosophy were in socialism and anarchism and later in life Catholicism. Dorothy Day was one of the founders of the Catholic Workers Movement in 1933, a pacifist movement that continues to combine direct aid for the poor and homeless through nonviolent direct action. It is known for its houses of hospitality in poor sections of cities as well as activity in support of labor unions, human rights, cooperatives, and the development of a nonviolent culture. Thomas Merton, who was a close friend of Dorothy Day -- a friendship of letters, they never actually met -- shared a commitment to nonviolence and doing works of mercy for the poor.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Statue Will Rise Outside Georgia Statehouse

July 2, 2015 Greg Bluestein, www.politics.blog.ajc.com Create! History, MLK, Symbolism

By Greg Bluestein in AJC - Martin Luther King Jr.’s statue will soon rise on the statehouse grounds, just a few steps from a new plaza where demonstrations are now held. State Rep. Calvin Smyre, a Democrat tasked with coordinating the statue, told the Georgia Building Authority Monday that the eight-foot statue will be atop a three-foot base and include inscriptions from the civil rights leader on all four sides. It will overlook the busy road that bears his name, a short walk from the just-opened Liberty Plaza. The sculptor selected to design the statue is Andy Davis, a Georgia artist whose signature work so far is a life-size bronze statue of Ray Charles that stands in Albany, the famed singer’s birthplace.

Seattle Teacher Sues For Police Pepper Spray Attack

January 30, 2015 Nadia Prupis, www.commondreams.org Organize! Education, MLK, Police

Seattle high school teacher and activist Jesse Hagopian, who was pepper sprayed by police during a peaceful rally on Martin Luther King Day, filed a claim against the city and the police department Wednesday afternoon with the Seattle NAACP. Hagopian, who teaches at Garfield High School and is a well-known activist in Seattle, says he had just finished giving a speech at the January 19 rally and was walking to his 2-year-old son's birthday party, while on the phone with his mother, when he was sprayed. In a video of the incident, Hagopian can be seen walking past several police officers while on the phone; seconds later, one officer unleashes a torrent of pepper spray at the marchers, seemingly unprovoked, hitting Hagopian in the face and others nearby.

Newsletter: Our Task-The Future As A Frontier

January 24, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter BXE, Citizens United, Corporatocracy, Davos, Democracy, Elections, fast track, FERC, Fracking, Martin Luther King Jr, MLK, Pipelines, Seneca Lake, Solar, Supreme Court, TPP, World Economic Forum

Sam Smith gave this talk, “On Becoming and Being an Activist,” at a teen conference. The essence of his message is that we are facing serious crises and we have to make a choice of whether we will act or not. We are on a dangerous path and it takes courage to see that and not be paralyzed into inaction. It is easier to ignore the truth and succumb to the many distractions in our lives. Smith writes: “It is this willingness to walk away from the seductive power of the present that first divides the mere reformer from the rebel — the courage to emigrate from one’s own ways in order to meet the future not as just a right but as a frontier.” Smith goes on to describe that traditional tools for social change, working within the system, are not effective in this time. We must raise our voices, do the unexpected and try the improbable. We need to use our passion, our energy, our magic and music to burst the illusion being hand fed to us in the media and taught in our schools.

Protesters Interrupt Alabama Governor’s Inauguration

January 23, 2015 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! #BlackLivesMatter, Alabama, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Martin Luther King Jr, MLK, Racism

A group of citizens from Selma, Montgomery, and other cities and towns from around the state of Alabama interrupted Governor Robert Bentley’s inauguration address to sing “We Shall Overcome” and chant ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬. The protest was organized by the Montgomery group Birthplace For Justice. “In Montgomery, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, we’ve been far too quiet in seeking justice in our communities and in this country,” said Michael Eric Grant, a spokesman for the group. “We protested today because in addition to it being the inauguration, it’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We’re fighting to keep his dream of unity and justice alive. We hope that Governor Bentley will carry out his oath to office with a similar commitment.” “The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy of brotherhood, the normalcy of true peace, the normalcy of justice.” -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Address at the Conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery March, 1965

Seneca Lake Protesters Declare: ‘We Are Planting Our Flag’

January 21, 2015 Lauren McCauley, www.commondreams.org Resist! Energy, Environment, MLK, New York (NY), Seneca Lake

Twenty people were arrested blocking the entrance to Texas-based energy company Crestwood Midstream on Monday, bringing the total number of arrests since the actions began late October to 200 people. The group is protesting plans to turn the region's salt caverns into a storage facility for gases extracted during fracking operations. Despite strong local opposition and what the group says are "grave" geological and public health concerns, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently approved construction of the storage infrastructure on the west side of Seneca Lake. With the Martin Luther King Jr. Day demonstration, the diverse group of protesters paid homage to the lessons learned from the civil rights movement.

FBI’s ‘Suicide Letter’ To MLK, & The Dangers Of Surveillance

January 20, 2015 Nadia Kayyali, www.eff.org Educate! FBI, MLK, NSA, Surveillance

The New York Times has published an unredacted version of the famous “suicide letter” from the FBI to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The letter, recently discovered by historian and professor Beverly Gage, is a disturbing document. But it’s also something that everyone in the United States should read, because it demonstrates exactly what lengths the intelligence community is willing to go to—and what happens when they take the fruits of the surveillance they’ve done and unleash it on a target. The anonymous letter was the result of the FBI’s comprehensive surveillance and harassment strategy against Dr. King, which included bugging his hotel rooms, photographic surveillance, and physical observation of King’s movements by FBI agents.

Thousands Rally Across The Nation To #ReclaimMLK

January 20, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Inequality, Martin Luther King Jr, MLK, Police abuse, Racism

Over 50 Cities Nationwide Rally Against Police Abuse and For Racial Justice on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Thousands of people across the country took to the streets to reclaim the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a radical who sought national transformation, not just voting rights for all but an end to militarism, challenged capitalism and an end to racism. Ferguson Action wrote “From here on, MLK weekend will be known as a time of national resistance to injustice.” Thousands of people took to the streets on Monday rebuking what they say is the "sanitized" version of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and calling to restore the legacy of a man whose protests, like their own, were never "convenient." The nationwide actions marked the birthday of the civil rights leader in a year that saw renewed calls for racial justice in the face of persistent inequality, discrimination, and police targeting of communities of color. Capping off almost a week of demonstrations, organizational meetings, and other pledges of resistance—all done with the intent to "Reclaim MLK"—grassroots coalition Ferguson Action issued a specific call for Monday: "Do as Martin Luther King would have done and resist the war on Black Lives with civil disobedience and direct action. Take the streets, shut it down, walk, march, and whatever you do, take action."

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