#mlk jr

Happy MLK Day

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Top photo: Dr. King speaks at Duke University’s Page Auditorium on November 13, 1964. 

Bottom photos: The audience filled the auditorium and overflowed into the wooded area behind the building. Note the speakers visible in the middle photograph.

To hear clips of Dr. King speaking at Duke, visit http://mlk.duke.edu/king-at-duke/

Today, we celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King and their radical fight for justice and safety for Black lives.

As we celebrate MLK Day, we know we still have so much work to do in an America that continues to be a dangerous place for Black people, especially those who are poor, unhoused, transgendered, or those who refuse to “settle down” at the face of racism and white supremacy.

We shall overcome!
We shall overcome!
We shall overcome!

Martin Luther King Jr. leading a procession of people to demonstrate against police treatment of voter rights demonstrators, Montgomery, Alabama, Declan Haun, March 17, 1965

wehadfacesthen:

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr leads a kneeling protest in Selma, Alabama, 1965

Black Lives Matter by Farrah Fawcett
Via Flickr:
“We need LEADERS NOT in love with MONEY BUT in love with JUSTICE. NOT in love with PUBLICITY but IN LOVE with HUMANITY.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Artwork of MLK by Rick Frausto (rickfrausto.com/products/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-drawing). What Black Lives Matter Means (and Why It’s Problematic to Say “All Lives Matter”) Saying that black lives matter doesn’t mean that other lives do not. BY LIZZ SCHUMER Jun 4, 2020 What Does Black Lives Matter Mean? Black Lives Matter is an anthem, a slogan, a hashtag, and a straightforward statement of fact. While it is not a new movement, the message is central to the nationwide protests happening right now. BLM speaks out against the police brutality and systemic racism that caused the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade and Breonna Taylor, as well as the thousands of violent incidents that happen to Black people that aren’t recorded, aren’t reported or aren’t afforded the outrage they deserve. At its most basic level, it calls for a shift in the statistics that Black people are twice as likely to be killed by a police officer while unarmed, compared to a white individual. According to a 2015 study, African Americans died at the hands of police at a rate of 7.2 per million, while whites were killed at a rate of 2.9 per million. Read the full ARTICLE: www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a32745051/what-black-lives-… Nichelle Nichols was counseled by Martin Luther King Jr., not to quit Star Trek when she disclosed to him that she was contemplating leaving. www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942461/Star-Treks-Uhura-Reflect… Nichelle Nichols as Uhura ushered in Star Trek from Desilu Studios that began the enormous Star Trek Chain of creator Gene Rodenberry. Nichelle is repainted and restyled by Noel Cruz of ncruz.comformyfarrah.com. Manicured french tip hands by Pure Icon Paris www.ebay.com/usr/pure-icon-paris. For more about Nichelle Nichols visit her web site www.uhura.com/ and on IMDB: www.imdb.com/name/nm0629667/. Photo/Graphic Layout & web sites 1sixth.co,1sixthworld.com,ncruz.com&myfarrah.combywww.stevemckinnis.com.

Remembering these words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech at Holt Street Baptist Church in Dec 1955today.

burymyart:

Dr. King spoke out against the genocide of Native Americans
by: Albert Bender

Despite the yearly celebrations of Martin Luther King Day and African American History Month, it is probably little known what the great freedom fighter had to say about the horrific mistreatment of Native Americans by the U.S. In his 1963 book, “Why We Can’t Wait,” writing about the origins of racism in this country, King strongly condemned the historic injustices inflicted on Native people. He wrote the following:

“Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles of racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its Indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.”  

Woefully, Dr. King’s words still ring true to this very day in so many respects. But King’s poignant words on the tragic history of Native Americans are largely unknown in mainstream society.

Although King played the leading role on the cutting edge of the African American liberation struggle for social justice and equality, he was a fighter for all of the oppressed of this land. His birthday holiday this year brought to mind a story I was told years ago of how he assisted Native people in south Alabama in the late 1950s.

At that time the Poarch Band of Creek Indians were trying to completely desegregate schools in their area. The South has so many seemingly outlandish racial problems: In this case, light-complected Native children were allowed to ride school buses to previously all white schools, while dark-skinned Indian children from the same band were barred from riding the same buses.

Tribal leaders, upon hearing of King’s desegregation campaign in Birmingham, Ala., contacted him for assistance. He promptly responded and through his intervention the problem was quickly resolved.          

Also, little known is that in the 1963 March on Washington there was a sizable Native American contingent, including many from South Dakota. Moreover, the civil rights movement inspired the Native American rights movement of the 1960s and many of its leaders. In fact, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) was patterned after the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Re-reading Dr. King’s words I had to harken back in history to the fact that according to U.S. Census Bureau figures, by 1900 there were only 237,196 Native Americans left in the entire country - this from an original population that numbered in the tens of millions. In the words of one historian the outright massacres had ceased by then, simply “because there were just not that many Indians left to kill.” King rightly concluded that the genocide of American Indians was “national policy.” Indeed, on many reservations the story still circulates that as late as the 1890s a debate was held by the U.S. Congress to consider the outright military extermination of all remaining Native Americans. According to these accounts the only reason this nefarious plan was not carried out was because it would be too expensive.

But fast forwarding to the 21st century it must be seen that both the civil rights movement and the Native American rights movement have had a major impact on the U.S. and the world at large. Dr. King played an immeasurable role in these movements that roiled the status quo and marked a new stage of struggles that are ongoing to this day.

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R.I.S.E.

Radical
Indigenous
Survivance &
Empowerment

Info:
http://www.burymyart.tumblr.com/
http://www.facebook.com/RISEindigenous
contact: [email protected]

http://peoplesworld.org/dr-king-spoke-out-against-the-genocide-of-native-americans/

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mtv:

martin luther king jr.

We’re Thrilled to Share with You the Official Lineup of Historic Speeches that will be Performed at #MLKNOW by Some of Today’s Best Actors/Artists including Actor and Civil Rights Icon Harry Belafonte, Actor and Comedian Chris Rock, Oscar-Winner Octavia Spencer, Creator and Star of the hit Broadway Musical “Hamilton” Lin Manuel Miranda, CREED Actors Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson, Tony Award Winner Anika Noni Rose, Actor Andre Holland, Actresses Condola Rashad and Adepero Oduye, and more.

• MLK Now will also feature musical performances by Rose, Grammy-Nominated Artist Bilal, Acclaimed Poet/Performer Saul Williams, and Grammy-Winning Artist India Arie, and closes off with an interactive panel discussion addressing the most pressing human rights issues of today – including police violence, racial and social injustice, economic inequality, the prison industrial complex and grassroots and political mobilization. Panelists include Filmmaker and Blackout Member Ryan Coogler, Grammy-Nominated Hip Hop Artist J. Cole, Urban Cusp Founder and Publisher Rahiel Tesfamariam, Arab American Association of New York Executive Director Linda Sarsour, Million Hoodies Movement for Justice Executive Director Dante Barry, and Activist Leon Ford, Jr.
  
• RSVP for MLK Now: http://bit.ly/22PXg8R
  

twixnmix:

Ebony magazine covers from 1962

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

Martin Luther King Jr.