Martin Luther King

First, I would like to second that emotion regarding the priclessness of edgar.

Next I would say - that is an amazing story. Merry Andrew. An auspicious beginning for your child.

Aren't you Latvian? (Please say yes. (Years ago I killed a few hours with a lovely Latvian man in the very slow moving check in line at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and I always imagine you and he are one in the same. (Some days I really wish that line had moved slower.)))

What brought you to the March? Tell us a story!

Oh, I'm Latvian all right, Boomer. There's not much to tell, really. What brought me to the march? A light blue 1960 Chevy. Oh, you mean, why was I there? For the same reason the other 800.000 or thereabouts people were there. In my own little way I was anxious to show support for the struggle against what, back then, was the single most evil and unAmerican situation possible -- racial segergation by fiat; oppression of an entire group of people based solely on their skin pigmentation. For a number of personal reasons, I couldn't go down South to participate in the nonviolent protests in Selma and Montgomery, Ala. But the March on Washington was just a leisurely drive from my home in Boston. And, besides, one doesn't just sit back and watch TV when there's an opportunity to participate in history. Not when you're in your early 20s.

I dearly wanted to participate, but had other unrelated issues holding me down. I had the age, just not the circumstance. It was not until 1968 I managed to get into the civil rights action. It was as Merry says, the pressing issue of the time. Shortly on its heels came Vietnam and by 1968 we were able to show up for civil rights and then move on to anti war rallies, often in a single day.

I was born in 1960 so in many ways the civil rights movement belongs to the generation above me but in many other ways it is mine.

We were there to remember it in a different way. We grew up in intergrated schools but we didn't fight the fight. We were the benefactors but it seems that we were the ones that proved it true. We lived it too, but in a different way.

I love to hear the stories of the era.

And I marvel at you people who gave me this.

And I thank you, edgarblythe and Merry Andrew and your brothers in arms.

And I worry about the clay feet of my generation.

I worry about the feet of every nation on Earth at this juncture. So many seem intent on throwing it all away ...

<nodding>

A great man to be sure, and one who honors his namesake...........

My Mother recalls reading about MLK selling secrets to the KGB, and spying for them, in the Crusaders News Papper. He even did what John Kerry did about the Vietnam War. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

What is the Crusaders New Papper (sic.)?

And yes, he and John Kerry and millions of others spoke out against the war in Vietnam.

What is your point?

ConstitutionalGirl:

1) The Crusader is a paper published by the Ku Klux Klan. There is nothing whatever in it that I would lend any credence to.

2) "Selling secrets to the KGB"? What secrets could MLK possibly have had to sell? He was under constant surveilance by the FBI. He was a preacher, not a government worker with secrets to sell, even if he'd wanted to sell them.

3) No, he didn't do "what John Kerry did about the Vietnam War." John Kerry volunteered to go fight in the Vietnam War. He came back disillusioned and proceeded to let his opinions be known. King was against the war -- indeed, against any war -- right from the start; he was speaking out against it while Kerry was fighting it.

4) The word "paper" has only two ps, not three.

5) Welcome to A2K

High-five, Merry Andrew.

Ohhhhh so that's what the Crusader newspaper is.

Thanks, Merry Andrew.

You're better than Google.

Boy, I came in late. Merry Andrew set it right, though. Good going, man.

I know this thread is for the rememberance and praise of Martin Luther Kings work.
I am not here to dampen that.
I just learned my Mr Wolf that his statue ( MLK's) actually had to be guarded by police this year.
Apparently for several years running , on MLK's birthday, this statue is trashed. Spray painted words most begining with the letter N are everywhere. Trash thrown about the face. Litter at the feet...
Here it is, years after his death, and even his likeness is still in danger.
Sad world we live in.

He faced down the dogs and clubs. He faces down the vandals, only they don't know it yet.

Edgar--

Well said.

If you've visited his grave in Atlanta, you know that the monument is surrounded by what amounts to a moat. In other words, the tomb itself is in the center of a small artifical pond. It's very pretty, but I'm sure one reason for that attractive setting is to make it difficult for vandals to approach it.

John Kerry, MLK, Jane Fonda, and other Veitnam War Protesters with Big Money, went to France to stop that war. That in it's self alone is called Treason. Do you have proof the the Crusaders was the KKK? My mother grew up in a multi-culture New York City, and would read anything racist let alone anything KKK.

My dear ConstitutionalGirl:

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. "John Kerry, MLK, Jane Fonda and other Vietnam War Protesters...went o France"???? What does (or did) France have to do with it? Jane Fonda went to Hanoi, yes. I've never heard it said anywhere that Kerry or King demonstrated against the war anywhere except right here in the USA.

Do you have any idea what the definition of 'treason' is? Disagreement with the policies of the government in power is not treason. Calling for the impeachment of the president is not treason. Throwing rotten eggs at a president can be classified as assault, but not treason. Treason is outright betrayal of one's country to the enemy. (I admit that Jane Fonda came close, but, as she was never prosecuted, it stands to reason that the best legal minds the government could muster didn't think they could make a valid case for treason.) To accuse a great American like MLK of 'treason' is outrageous.

Proof that the Crusader is a KKK rag? All you have to do is look at the editorial page where, by law, the publisher must be listed. It's never been a secret what the Crusader is. I suppose it's possible your mother never realized what she was, in fact, reading. (If you don't have a copy of the Crusader handy, I'll see if I can hunt up a web-link for you.)

Keep posting, ConGirl. You'll find that A2K is a forum whose members hold a variety of opinions. You might even learn something.

Sincerely,
Merry Andrew

>snicker<