In the past few years, I've written quite a bit about Martin Luther King, Jr. Instead of writing more stuff this year, I'm posting the top five. Enjoy!
Oh -- and that snapshot above is Dr. King playing pool in Chicago with local civil rights leader Al Raby. I love how well-dressed everyone is. Even in this casual, relaxed atmosphere, most of them are wearing hats.
The Dr. King Interview You (Probably) Haven't Seen -- This is MLK on The Mike Douglas Show. (I know, right?) The tension is so thick with the interviewer and his guest (virtual unknowns now), you can feel it coming at you through your laptop.
Where Are Our Black Leaders? -- They were murdered by the FBI, the state and local police, and of course, homegrown terrorists like the KKK. This features a video clip of the young, brilliant revolutionary/undergrad, Fred Hampton.
“Well, I am one who doesn’t believe in deluding myself. I’m
not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my
plate, and call myself a diner. Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a
diner, unless you eat some of what’s on that plate. Being here in
America doesn’t make you an American. Being born here in America doesn’t
make you an American. Why, if birth made you American, you wouldn’t
need any legislation; you wouldn’t need any amendments to the
Constitution; you wouldn’t be faced with civil-rights filibustering in
Washington, D.C., right now. They don’t have to pass civil-rights
legislation to make a Polack an American. No, I’m not an American. I’m
one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism.
One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy,
nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I’m not standing here speaking to
you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver —
no, not I. I’m speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see
America through the eyes of the victim. I don’t see any American dream; I
see an American nightmare.”
— Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet, 1964
Its breathtaking, to think of where we could be as a people and as a nation, if our black leaders who came to prominence during the civil rights movement hadn't been slaughtered, in many instances at the behest of the federal government. This country might have lived up to its true promise, and the ideals we like to believe that we embody -- things like "freedom and justice for all" -- wouldn't be handy catchphrases and branding favorites. Anyone who attempts to console themselves by saying those things repeatedly isn't somehow making any of it true -- and it doesn't minimize guilt or entitlement.
Ultimately, the brochure doesn't match the destination hotspot. There isn't freedom and justice for all. There isn't equality for everyone. We aren't a democracy. (Not really.) And no one seems particularly interested in addressing any of this. Probably because everyone has been lulled into a functional stupor by reality tv, fast food and middle class poverty. (What's the first sign of malnutrition? Apathy. No wonder they don't want us to have vitamins...) If people were taught to think critically in schools, if we ate nothing but clean food and were given a living wage, this would be a completely different country.
There, I said it.
For your listening pleasure, here is Malcolm X's seminal speech The Ballot or the Bullet in its entirety. Anyone who considers themselves to be an American should listen to this very carefully.
although i've written about martin luther king, jr. and the holiday that celebrates his life's work before on this blog, i think it would be interesting this time around to hear from the man himself. this is an interview from the mike douglas show -- such an important staple of my childhood! -- from 1967, with singer tony martin in the guest seat.
this little chat fascinates me, for several reasons.
first of all, everyone is so respectful of each other. think about it: the civil rights movement is the absolute hot topic of the decade. there have been riots, violence and various factions in the black community that have arisen to speak out against the status quo. dr. king is a controversial figure, to say the least. and yet, there's no open hostility towards him from mike douglas or mr. martin. no anger, no animosity. all of them are polite towards each other. they actually listen to everything he has to say.
this would never fly on fox news.
secondly, it's clear that dr. king knows how to think critically and deeply and objectively, and that he knows how to talk and listen. these qualities should be the hallmark of a truly educated person -- not a degree or a title or a salary. once upon a time, a liberal arts education very nearly guaranteed you at least that much. for so many in too many schools of higher learning, it's really all about a kind of blind, regurgitative process that has little or nothing to do with critical thought. you rinse whatever it is through your brain and hopefully enough information sticks to get you through midterms and finals. the end.
sarah palin fascinates the world, not because she's brilliant but because she's so far off the mark. any thinking person is genuinely astonished at how daft she is, in part because she doesn't seem to be aware of her own ineptitude. catch phrases and clever quips matter so much more than critical thinking in our egocentric, media drenched soundbite oriented culture. we've got to blast the competition. we've got to tell them off. that scenario is unimaginable here. listening to him talk is like a breath of fresh air.
and that's the other thing. what he's saying is so relevant to what's happening in this country now. ultimately, so much of what he said was true, it's almost a little creepy -- listening to him talk about vietnam, it's almost interchangeable with the wars in iraq and afghanistan.
i'm probably way too idealistic to seriously entertain this question, but this interview makes me wonder: were we as a country on the verge of dismantling -- or at least acknowledging -- white privilige and white entitlement at this time in our history?
this year, i've posted another speech that moved me -- obama speaking at ebenezer baptist church in the ATL during his successful run for the presidency.
when the GOP began to take senator john mccain seriously as a presidential candidate, i began to do my homework on the black hand side -- because God knows the media wouldn't. and besides, i love a good fact check. as it turns out, what i found was more than unsavory: the man is nothing short of a privileged, spoiled rich kid, a womanizer and a heel. he's old. he's sickly. he's reckless. sure, he's no ivy league elitist -- but thanks to his wife's $100 million dollar beer fortune, he's loaded, with 7 homes. or 8. or is it 11? no one seems to know for sure, least of all senator mccain. (how many homes does barack and michelle obama have? one.) he and his wife cindy have 13 cars. if you want to see them, click here. (how many cars does barack and michelle obama have? one. and yes, it's a ford.)
think of it: if senator mccain becomes president, he won't need air force one. he already has his own jet!
nevermind that carefully handcrafted homespun myth about him being a war hero or a rebel maverick in congress. or a faithful husband. his record -- with a special emphasis on the way he has become the presidential candidate that he rallied against so self-righteously in his initial bid for the white house -- speaks for itself. here's a case in point that i found especially bizarre: take a look at which side he stood on concerning a national holiday for the iconic, internationally recognized civil rights leader dr. martin luther king jr.
sure, we're all human, we all make mistakes. sure, i forgive him. but this one was kind of a whopper. and the gist of it all is, it reads volumes into his character -- the man he really is, not the one he or the media pretends that he is.
in the video clip below circa 1983, someone queries senator mccain as to what he intends to do to make dr. king's birthday a state and national holiday. in spite of his vow to rectify the situation, he spent the next 11 years opposing it.
that's right -- senator mccain opposed a national holiday for dr. king as recently as 1994. and arizona republican governor evan mecham deserves some special neoconservative award for simply being who he is. to their credit, the congresspeople of arizona did impeach him eventually -- but that was only after they realized his racist idiocy cost their state over $500 million dollars. once they felt the financial heat, a national holiday for a black man became a great idea.
how can he explain away this voting record? here's the real question: how can he think that thinking black folk will vote for him in spite of it?
don't get me wrong. senator mccain certainly wasn't the only congressperson that opposed the bill initially in 1983. a holiday honoring dr. king was ratified state by state throughout the 90s and was officially a national holiday in 2000. only 17 states participated initially. but supporting and aligning yourself with a republican state governor that openly used the word pickaninny amongst other racist remarks (and defending this), and that went on record as saying that although he thought dr. king did a lot for "the coloreds," he didn't think he did much for anyone else, didn't help then. and it definitely doesn't help now.
so why did mccain vote against a national holiday for martin luther king, jr?
in the following video clip, he attempts to explain himself by saying that he "wasn't familiar with the issue." a remark like that is usually vague enough to give any politician a free pass but this guy is running for president, so we deserve a real answer on this one. i mean, seriously -- doesn't everyone in the world know who dr. king is and what he did? what didn't senator mccain know about dr. king and the civil rights movement, exactly? in his rosier moments while waxing poetic about his time as a POW in vietnam, doesn't he go on about how his tormentors told all of the captives about the assassinations of both dr. king and robert kennedy, to somehow break their morale?
ew.
i especially enjoy the way senator mccain justifies his stance on this issue by referring to his career in the navy. the military isn't racist, so neither is he -- is that it? the truth is, the military is one of the most racist and sexist places there is. frankly, if he doesn't know something that basic, he's way more out of touch than i thought.
maybe he should ask a black man in the military about what it's like to be in the service. or a woman. or a black woman. does senator mccain even know any black women?
hm. watching the following video clip might be helpful -- it's a CNN expose about the neo-nazi invasion in the military and how officials have turned a blind eye to their activities for years.
