Martin Luther King - 40 Years Since and Most Still Don’t Know His Dream

April 4th, 2008

MLK has been commoditized into a neat little package; his dream widdled down to a 2 minute sound bite of the end of one speech. His real legacy hidden from the eyes of history, so that one may only know it if you actually search for it.

They’re marching in Memphis today for King’s 40 year Assassination Anniversary. I was supposed to go, but I have personal things to take care of at home that kept me from make the 3 hour drive across the state from Nashville.

My man Shawn Williams at DallasSouthblog got an interview with CNN reporter Soledad O’brien, that you need to check out about the piece that aired last night called The King Assassination:Witness to Murder. It’s apart of their four month series Black In America [this series ought to be interesting to say the least].

Soledad O'Brien at Lorraine Motel

But amongst all the MLK loving jibber jabber we’ll hear today, I again wonder, what of his true dream…the full dream?

We don’t hear about Martin’s peace dream and his Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence anti-war speech where he declared “A time comes when silence is betrayal. And that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.” Apropos words that would apply equivelently at this moment.

We don’t hear about his economic justice dream where he said “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

What about his Black Power dream? Oh, Martin L. King was antithetical to Black Power? That’s not what he said:

“Black Power, in its broad and positive meaning, is a call to black people to amass the political and economic strength to achieve their legitimate goals. No one can deny that the Negro is in dire need of this kind of legitimate power…“Power, properly understood, is the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political or economic changes. In this sense power is not only desirable but necessary in order to implement the demands of love and justice.”

Anyway, as far as the march today in Memphis; I won’t make it to that; but I’ve gone to the National Civil Rights Musem. It consist of two buildings, one is the Lorraine Motel itself, where he was shot. You actually can go up to the room he stayed in, and you look through the door way which is glass covered, and the room has props made up to look how he left the room. Then you can look out the window over the balcony where he was shot, and get their eye view at the moment. They didn’t let us regular folk out on the balcony like they did Soledad in the pic above.

There’s also a walk through an amazing exhibit of Civil Rights history where you wear head phones and you get narration depending on what exhibit you’re in front of. When I last went 5 years ago, I was presently surprised to have the voices of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis come into my head phones and take me through the exhibit.

I recommend a visit by all.

For more info on the full Measure of King besides the links to analysis and speeches that I provided in the text, you can also go to:

*The Real Martin Luther King Jr.
*Some MLK Quotes You’ve Probably Never Heard

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2 Responses to “Martin Luther King - 40 Years Since and Most Still Don’t Know His Dream”

  1. webprospector on April 4th, 2008 6:21 pm | link

    We do have to continue. I know Dr. King is turning in his grave.

  2. MorganLighter on April 6th, 2008 3:08 pm | link

    Yobachi,
    1968 was a very tumultuous year. Dr. King assassinated, Bobby Kennedy assassinated, LSD, Broadway Nudity, The Tet Offensive, Riots in Chicago, Mexico City, Student Rebellion, Nixon, Black Power, Sisterhood, Prague, Paris, Poland. Television was changing the political landscape with raw images of war and repression. Men were orbiting the moon, Free Love, Yippies and Hippies testing the limits of counterculture freedom. Dr. Spock indicted for aiding and abetting draft dodgers, Eldridge Cleaver publishes Soul On Ice, Abbie Hoffman, Paul Ehrlich publishes The Population Bomb, Catonsville Nine, The Kerner Commission, Arthur Ashe wins U.S.Open and becomes the first black man to win a GrandSlam event, Hendrix, Steppenwolf, Beatles, Stones, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Shirley Chisholm becomes first black woman elected to Congress, National Women’s Liberation Conference is held in Chicago, James Brown’s “Say it Loud - I’m Black and I’m Proud”, Ali, and lastly, I graduated from High School.
    Here’s a link to an MSNBC piece that Cooper posted on her site - www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23943411#23943411
    You might want to give it a lash - warning, it’s long but well worth it.
    Also - If you haven’t read the seminal trilogy which Taylor Branch wrote on Dr. King, then you just might want to give a look.
    Can’t wait to visit the links in this piece - it’s always a true pleasure to visit your site and get educated.
    Yobachi for President in 2012?
    Peace.

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  • D. Yobachi Boswell

  • Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.

    I created this site to give new voice to socio-political issues that are in need of thoughtful consideration and redress.

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