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DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

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The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

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Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

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I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

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I was promised a recession.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Some Thoughts On Martin Luther King Day From The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Himself

Some Thoughts On Martin Luther King Day From The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Himself

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There is really nothing I can say about what the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was trying to teach us all and motivate us all to accomplish that he did not say himself. Given that reality, here he is in his own words. The Other America (1967):

The Three Evils of Society (1967):

Beyond Vietnam (1967):

Finally, as I wrote in last year’s Independence Day post, during the years prior to the Great Rebellion, America abolitionists rewrote the lyrics to My Country Tis of Thee. This abolitionist variant, done in a minor key, becomes a haunting spiritual begging the divine providence cited by the Founders in the Declaration, Constitution, and their other writings to finally bring liberty to all. This variant is below:

I will only say, in honor of the day and the man it is named after, that if one is not considered equal, then none of us are equal. And if one is not free, none of us are free. That has always been the challenge of America’s ideals versus America’s reality. It is up to us to do the hard work, small and large, to bridge that gap and to truly form a more perfect Union. Open thread!

Reader Interactions

21Comments

  2. 2.

    HinTN

    It is up to us to do the hard work, small and large, to bridge that gap and to truly form a more perfect Union.

    Each and every day.

    Thank you, Adam.

  3. 3.

    Adam L Silverman

    I will add this roll call of paragons of patriotism:

    ETA:

  5. 5.

    Amaranthine RBG

    We really need to develop a national tradition about what we do to observed MLK day.

    Unfortunately, now, it’s pretty much like “President’s Day” or something – just another three day weekend.

    Many people see it as a “day of service.” And do something – anything to observe it: serving at the soup kitchen, trail maintenance, bla bla bla.

    We need a better idea.

  6. 6.

    sheila in nc

    Adam, thank you for the abolitionist My Country, ‘Tis of Thee. The minor key is so effective and the production of the vocals, adding a new harmony with each verse, is beautifully done. Was also listening to a lot of good protest music on the radio earlier today.

  7. 7.

    raven

    I mark the day that the NFL took the Super Bowl away from Arizona and the final nail in the coffin of racism that my father fell into. It’s funny, I posted a picture of me, when i was a child, as a cheerleader mascot on the high school team my dad coached in the 50’s. On Sunday the whole team would come to our house for breakfast, black and white kids all. There always seemed to be an approval of integration partly from his service in the Pacific in WW2 and his sensitivity to African-Americans in the Navy. His objection to the loss of the Super Bowl was not really about the MLK holiday, more about how Arizona was punished when others were not. There was no changing his mind and it was one of the saddest things I saw in his life because he did become a racist in his old age.

  8. 8.

    raven

    I see the shithead troll is here. You have fun talking to it, I won’t even stay in a thread is appears in.

  9. 9.

    raven

    How MLK Day Changed the Super Bowl

    The United States observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day for the first time in 1986. Although the holiday was not observed in every state, Gov. Bruce Babbitt declared it an Arizona holiday through an executive order. This made Arizona one of the first 27 states to observe the holiday to honor King.

    When Gov. Evan Mecham was elected a year later, the holiday was abolished. Mecham thought the holiday was created illegally because it was through an executive order, not a bill in the state legislature. Although the holiday officially passed in the state legislature in 1989, there was still controversy surrounding it in Arizona, and a ballot initiative was created for residents to vote on.

    In the midst of the controversy, the NFL was deciding which city would host Super Bowl XXVII. Arizona received the Cardinals football team from Missouri in 1988, so the NFL was looking at Sun Devil Stadium as a possibility.

    The NFL hesitated to award the Super Bowl to Arizona because of the issues surrounding King’s holiday. State leaders convinced the NFL owners that the issues would be resolved, and Arizona was awarded the Super Bowl with one stipulation: If anything was done to dishonor King, the committee would move the Super Bowl elsewhere.

    In 1990, opponents to the national holiday succeeded and the ballot initiative was rejected by Arizona voters. Many NFL players took notice.

    The NFL selection committee rescinded Super Bowl XXVII and awarded it to Pasadena, Calif., costing Arizona potentially $350 million in business revenue.

    Finally, in 1993, Arizona became the first state to make MLK Day an official holiday by popular vote. After the holiday was passed, the NFL awarded Arizona with Super Bowl XXX, which took place in 1996.

  15. 15.

    Planetjanet

    @Amaranthine RBG: I spent the day as I have the last eight years serving a meal in a homeless shelter. I made my favorite bbq so others may have a hot meal on a cold day. Why was this a bad way to honor MLK?

  17. 17.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Planetjanet:

    I certainly don’t mean to criticize your activities on MLK day.

    I am just proposing that we need to develop some kind of national tradition that specifically honors Dr. King and the civil rights struggle.

    It seems to me that there is no real focus and that MLK day more resembles the basically meaningless President’s Day and I think he, and his legacy, deserve better.

    I especially notice it with parents of young children. People have cobbled together their own “traditions” such as screening some of his speeches, reading some of his letters, etc. But these activities are so atomized and there isn’t really a national observance.

  18. 18.

    justawriter

    How I try to remember the day, by not being a moderate …

    First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. – MLK, Letter From Birmingham Jail

  19. 19.

    mvr

    I’m just so impressed by how young he was in this talk, and yet how confidently he just rolls his argument out. Wish I could do that presenting much easier material to much more forgiving audiences.

  21. 21.

    AxelFoley

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    We really need to develop a national tradition about what we do to observed MLK day.

    Unfortunately, now, it’s pretty much like “President’s Day” or something – just another three day weekend.

    Many people see it as a “day of service.” And do something – anything to observe it: serving at the soup kitchen, trail maintenance, bla bla bla.

    We need a better idea.

    So spending the day in service doesn’t cut it for you? What do you suggest, oh wise one?

    Nevermind. Just fuck the fuck off.

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