Martin Luther King jr., “I have a dream” – In memory of Dr King.
Posted by africanpress on April 4, 2008
Forty years ago, on the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of his Memphis hotel room. He was 39.
Since his death, we’ve struggled as a nation to reconcile race-based inequities that King spoke so forcefully about in his most famous speech — “I Have a Dream.”
King delivered “I Have a Dream” to more than 250,000 people gathered for the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.And as King told the crowd on that spring day: “Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning.”
In the upcoming slide show, images from recent history are combined with quotes from “I Have a Dream” to demonstrate how, as a nation, we’ve made gains in the fight for racial equality and justice—and where we have fallen short.
Exiled From New Orleans: Hurricane Katrina
“One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.” — Martin Luther King Jr., from “I Have a Dream”Stranded New Orleans residents evacuate the hurricane-ravaged city on Aug. 31, 2005. Scenes of death, damage, and chaos wracked the U.S. Gulf Coast even as some authorities tried to rescue the living and count the dead amid the destruction.
“But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.” — MLKA Tuskegee Syphilis Study victim, Herman Shaw, 94, receives an official apology from President Clinton in 1997. From 1932 to 1972, about 400 African-American men with syphilis living in rural Alabama were part of a study conducted by U.S. Public Health Service. The syphilis was intentionally left untreated and the men were never told what disease they were suffering from. The goal of the study was to examine the effects of syphilis on the human body through autopsies of the victims — essentially using the men as human guinea pigs.
The Birmingham Church Bombing: Justice Secured
“And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.” — MLKBirmingham officials jailed two longtime church bombing suspects, former Ku Klux Klansmen Thomas E. Blanton Jr. (left) and Bobby Frank Cherry. Both were later convicted, in 2001 and 2002, respectively, of the 1963 church bombing that killed four young girls.
“Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” — MLKThese statues, located on the grounds of the Arkansas state capitol, depict the Little Rock Nine. The nine students desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. With President Eisenhower’s National Guard soldiers standing between them and angry segregationists as they entered the school building, the nine students — aged 15 to 17 — showed enormous courage and changed history.
“And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.” — MLKStudents at Chicago’s former James McCosh Elementary School walk past a bulletin board honoring Emmet Till — a boy who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1955 while visiting relatives in Money, Miss. In 2006, the school was renamed the Emmet Louis Till Math & Science Academy in honor of the 14-year-old former McCosh student, whose death helped galvanize the civil rights movement.
“The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” — MLKRiots begin in Los Angeles on April 30, 1992, the first day of burning and looting that would later engulf the city. The riots began when four LAPD officers who had been charged with beating Rodney King were acquitted. By the time the riots subsided, up to 55 people had lost their lives and the property damage totaled $1 billion.
“We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” — MLKThe Rev. Jesse Jackson offers to shake the hand of a Klan member in Wallingford, Conn., in 2000. After Jackson’s visit, the mayor of Wallingford signed a bill to officially recognize Martin Luther King Day. Wallingford was the last town in Connecticut to do so.
“Many of our white brothers … have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.” — MLKProtesters in Washington, D.C., call for charges to be dropped against the “Jena Six.” This protest was part of a bigger movement that started in the central Louisiana town of Jena where six African-American teenagers, the so-called “Jena Six,” were accused of assault of a white classmate. Protesters argued the charges — including the plan to try the teens as adults — were excessive for the crime and indicative of racial bias in the justice system.
“You have been the veterans of creative suffering.” — MLKA Texas district attorney shows the chains used in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. In 1998, the 49-year-old African-American man was beaten with a bat then chained and dragged behind a truck. Three white men were convicted for his murder.
“Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina … knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.” — MLKA Confederate flag flies on the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol in Columbia Jan. 9, 2008. The Confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina capitol building on July 1, 2000. However, a smaller version (pictured above) still flies on the grounds. For many African-Americans the flag symbolizes racism, oppression and slavery.
Two David Wilsons: Descendents of Former Slave Owners and Former Slaves Meet
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” — MLKTwo David Wilsons, one the descendant of slaves, the other a descendant of their owner, walk through tobacco fields in North Carolina in the film “Meeting David Wilson,” a documentary made by the younger David Wilson about his family heritage.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” — MLK
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
“We will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” — MLKCoretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King Jr., shown here at a news conference in Atlanta to launch a celebration for the first national Martin Luther King holiday on Jan. 11, 1986. Coretta Scott King died on Jan. 30, 2006. She was 78 years old.
“With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.” — MLKA view of the crowd gathered for the Million Man March on Oct. 16, 1995, with the Washington Monument in the background. The idea for the march came from controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The goal was to increase community participation by African-American men who participated in the march.
“… And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning…” — MLKThis young visitor is one of approximately 35,000 people who visit the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala., each year to pay tribute to the civil rights movement and 40 people who lost their lives in the struggle for racial equality. The victims whose names are inscribed on the obelisk died between 1954 and 1968, the latter being the year of King’s death. The memorial was designed by renowned architect Maya Lin, who said she was inspired by a quote from the “I Have a Dream” speech: “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Lin also designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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In memory of Dr King’s 40 years day since his murder while fighting for a free world where all persons should be treated equal.
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Compiled by African Press International – API
hector rodriguez said
The South Caroline Flag is an embarrasment for United States that claims be the most tolerant country in the world. It’s an embarrasment because it symbolizes that some leaders claim the opposite, hate (being accoriding to them “Christians…?”), white supremacism (living and tolerated in the first democracy of the world). With this flag they are saying that this values (hate and white supremacism) are in the realm of their state.
Im my personal opinion people from south carolyne is worthy of pity.