Happy Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

racist thread IMO

 

Well played.

If only I knew more black people.

 

That's a wonderful quote, Tenny, and there are so many more. One of my favorites:

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

 

"The Measure of a Man" and "Letters from a Birmingham Jail".

Or so I've been told, from my black friends. Being white, I've never felt compelled to read either of them.

 

"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."

 

"We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now."

 

This day now every year makes me think of an episode of Boondocks (a cartoon based on a comic strip of the same name) that asked "What would MLK say if he woke up from a coma today?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_the_King_(The_Boondocks)

 

I love the Boondocks. It's a great show.

 

I've seen it a couple times. Never paid enough attention to get into it.

 

I need a t-shirt with that on it.

And a big poster sign for my office.

 

I read Letter from Birmingham Jail last night for the first time in it's entirety. If you have not done so, I strongly recommend it.

 

+1

One of the things I stress to my students in my history and AA Studies classes is the type of message King was sending out. There's this idea out there that King was "asking" to be a part of white society and that his message is less modern or desirable than the more radical messages of Malcolm X (whom I do love) and the Black Panthers, among others. However, as I pointedly note, King wasn't asking, he was demanding and doing so through direct confrontation, which was pretty controversial and not always received well throughout America, including the North. Plus, he wasn't wanting to necessarily be a part of white society, he just wanted access. I'm sure he felt it was better to mix together as a racial melting pot, but the choice to do so was the critical part.

 

I'm not sure how he could have improved that letter (in any capacity) to get his point across and establish his reasoning. The Christian perspective and references of the letter resonate with me the most. Very eloquent indeed.

 

It was well-written, sure, but most letters from jail are encoded with orders to murder people on the outside. I'm pretty sure that's all this was.

 

I have this one friend....


I knew it, but it just struck me how young young MLK was.

 

He probably plagiarized these from a white guy.


Please note the sarcasm.

 

I love Malcolm X.

 

I spent the morning reading a book on MLK while the kids were reading. I feel like I either didn't learn as much about the civil rights movement as I should or I didn't pay attention.

 

MLK is like the Aztecs in that they are taught diff now than they were 15-20 years ago.