General Discussion

sheshe2

(83,833 posts) Mon Jan 19, 2015, 04:51 PM Jan 2015

"If We Do It All Together, We'll Be Okay"

On this day every year I get overwhelmed with all the articles written about Martin Luther King. He was a great - and very complex - man who is worthy of our attention.

But to keep myself grounded, this article written by HamdenRice is something I always go back to. I hope he won't mind if I quote it at length. I'm thinking I'll make this an annual tradition.

At this point, I would like to remind everyone exactly what Martin Luther King did, and it wasn't that he "marched" or gave a great speech.

My father told me with a sort of cold fury, "Dr. King ended the terror of living in the south."

Please let this sink in and and take my word and the word of my late father on this. If you are a white person who has always lived in the U.S. and never under a brutal dictatorship, you probably don't know what my father was talking about.

But this is what the great Dr. Martin Luther King accomplished. Not that he marched, nor that he gave speeches.

He ended the terror of living as a black person, especially in the south.

More Here:

http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/01/if-we-do-it-all-together-well-be-okay.html

Follow the HamdenRice link as well, it is a great read.

9 replies

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Highlight:

"If We Do It All Together, We'll Be Okay" (Original Post) sheshe2 Jan 2015 OP

k/r for HamdenRice -- I miss having his voice around here fishwax Jan 2015 #1

He and thousands of others. roody Jan 2015 #2

"He ended the terror of living as a black person ..." napkinz Jan 2015 #3

I know napkinz, yet sheshe2 Jan 2015 #4

K&R! Number23 Jan 2015 #5

Thank you Number23! sheshe2 Jan 2015 #6

MLK marched right through them, into the history books, and into a legend! Major Hogwash Jan 2015 #7

Mr President~ sheshe2 Jan 2015 #9

Yes, he was a great and complex man worthy of our attention. lovemydog Jan 2015 #8

fishwax

(29,149 posts)

1. k/r for HamdenRice -- I miss having his voice around here

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Mon Jan 19, 2015, 05:03 PM

Jan 2015

roody

(10,849 posts)

2. He and thousands of others.

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Mon Jan 19, 2015, 06:46 PM

Jan 2015

napkinz

(17,199 posts)

3. "He ended the terror of living as a black person ..."

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Mon Jan 19, 2015, 07:32 PM

Jan 2015

Sadly, African-Americans still have to live in fear.

Think Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice.

sheshe2

(83,833 posts)

4. I know napkinz, yet

Reply to napkinz (Reply #3)

Tue Jan 20, 2015, 12:13 AM

Jan 2015

heaven05 posted this to me in AA where I cross posted.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/118711955#post1

heaven05 (8,446 posts)

and I will never forgive this culture it's murder of this great man who took the terror away and replaced it with DEFIANCE against lies and distortions still be perpetrated today against people of color.

Defiance!

PoC and allies are standing up. They are talking. The conversation starts now.

Think Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice.

The conversation starts, we have learned that we need to talk. And you can see the DEFIANCE. Martin Luther King taught us that.

This is the last part of the article I posted.

That is what Dr. King did—not march, not give good speeches. He crisscrossed the south organizing people, helping them not be afraid, and encouraging them, like Gandhi did in India, to take the beating that they had been trying to avoid all their lives.

Once the beating was over, we were free.

It wasn't the Civil Rights Act, or the Voting Rights Act or the Fair Housing Act that freed us. It was taking the beating and thereafter not being afraid. So, sorry Mrs. Clinton, as much as I admire you, you were wrong on this one. Our people freed ourselves and those Acts, as important as they were, were only white people officially recognizing what we had done.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/29/1011562/-Most-of-you-have-no-idea-what-Martin-Luther-King-actually-did

Number23

(24,544 posts)

5. K&R!

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Tue Jan 20, 2015, 01:29 AM

Jan 2015

sheshe2

(83,833 posts)

6. Thank you Number23!

Reply to Number23 (Reply #5)

Tue Jan 20, 2015, 01:32 AM

Jan 2015

Major Hogwash

(17,656 posts)

7. MLK marched right through them, into the history books, and into a legend!

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Tue Jan 20, 2015, 01:54 AM

Jan 2015

What MLK did, no white man could have done.
I am just as convinced of that today as I was when MLK was yet alive.
His speeches stirred the conscience of America.
And they caused us to press forward to make a better America than he inherited.

sheshe2

(83,833 posts)

9. Mr President~

Reply to Major Hogwash (Reply #7)

Tue Jan 20, 2015, 02:14 AM

Jan 2015

I like this part.

"He crisscrossed the south organizing people, helping them not be afraid, and encouraging them, like Gandhi did in India, to take the beating that they had been trying to avoid all their lives."

Once the beating was over, we were free.

It wasn't the Civil Rights Act, or the Voting Rights Act or the Fair Housing Act that freed us. It was taking the beating and thereafter not being afraid. So, sorry Mrs. Clinton, as much as I admire you, you were wrong on this one. Our people freed ourselves and those Acts, as important as they were, were only white people officially recognizing what we had done".

As always it is so late when I talk to you. I gotta go.

Hugs~

lovemydog

(11,833 posts)

8. Yes, he was a great and complex man worthy of our attention.

Reply to sheshe2 (Original post)

Tue Jan 20, 2015, 01:57 AM

Jan 2015

This is from his letter from prison:

“Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.”

― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail

As you and others point out, this struggle is far from over. It continues now and into the future. Never become complacent. Never give up. Always keep fighting for love and justice!

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