For Martin Luther King, on this 39th anniversary of his murder

"Pride (In The Name Of Love)" by U2

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow



In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love



One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss



In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love



(nobody like you...)

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride



In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love...



You will never be forgotten Rev. King. :cry: You were taken from us much too early, but your message and spirit lives on :patriot:

There will never be another man like him.

Amen to that.

:hug:

:kick:

:kick:

I wish I could nominate this more than once. The photos are beautiful. Thank you for posting them, along with the lyrics!

Here is one of the photos of Martin I like the best:

:hi:

And thanks for posting the wonderful pics of Dr. King and Rosa.

:hug:

He set the standard for courage, peace, and love.

Thank you.

Few people know there was a trial in 1999 of the King Family against the State, accusing elements of the State of complicity in a conspiracy that resulted in the assassination of MLK. The King family won the trial.
Their attorney William Pepper (also former attorney for James Earl Ray) wrote a book about it and occasionally holds a lecture on the topic.


"An Act Of State - The Execution of MLK"
by William Pepper,
(ISBN: 1859846955, Verso January 1, 2003)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1859846955/104-1291585-3918336?v=glance&n=283155

video (2hr 17min)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8419499993878733310&q=an+act+of+state

a brief clip from the video (4min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUBOZtsyhfM

Excerpts from the lecture:

The King family had a long debate about whether or not to go through with this trial. Finally Coretta King stopped the debate. She said that in controversial situations she always asked herself what would Martin have done, what would he have wanted me to do, what would he have wanted this family to do. She said, without any doubt at all he would have said go and do it. And everybody else fell in line, because she makes those decisions for the family.

The trial was held in Memphis in 1999.
One year after filing we got the judge we wanted.
He was retiring. This was to be his last case.
It was a perfect situation for all of us.
This time it didn't take the jury seven hours,
it took them 59 minutes.
After 30 hours of testimony, 70 witnesses,
they came back with a verdict for the King family
which effectively exonerated James Earl Ray,
and ruled that there was a conspiracy to kill MLK,
involving agents of the government of the United States,
the State of Tennessee and the City of Memphis.
End of story, and you probably never heard of that verdict.
After the first 12 hours the trial didn't receive any publicity at all.


Some of the details revealed by the trial:
- there have been several assassination attempts on King before 1968
- commanding unit for the operation was the 902nd (military)
- involved were FBI, CIA, military, mafia
- primary shooter was civilian (mafia hit man hired by 902nd)
- 2 military sniper teams served as backup
- the actual hitman got away in a waiting Memphis traffic police car.

According to Pepper this is the most important assassination of the previous century, because MLK was the last of the 'freedom fighters' in the anglo-american world.


----

also see

Democracy Now
Jury Rules King Assassination a Conspiracy
December 13th, 1999
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0414233&mode=thread&tid=5

CNN
Ray's death won't end assassination controversy
Interview with William Pepper
April 23, 1998
http://www.cnn.com/US/9804/23/james.earl.ray.reax/

The King Center
Complete Transcript of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination Conspiracy Trial
http://www.thekingcenter.org/news/trial.html

is an interesting read. I strongly recommend it. Mark Lane & Dick Gregory have a book that is also of great interest.

Thanks! :hi:

:cry: :patriot:

It's called "The Drum Major Instinct" - delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in 1968.

I think it's about 25-30 minutes.

He discusses how the God the he worshiped would have condemned such things as the US involvement in Viet Nam:

"...Be still and know that I'm God. And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power." And that can happen to America. Every now and then I go back and read Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And when I come and look at America, I say to myself, the parallels are frightening. And we have perverted the drum major instinct..."

It's based on a passage from the Gospel of Matthew about the human inclination toward egocentricity; King interprets it brilliantly to show how that instinct can be turned outward for good - The Greater Good.

The ending will give you chills and make you cry because he discusses his own death and what he would want said at his own funeral.

Quicktime audio:
http://www.lubbockdemocrats.org/audio/martin%20luther%20king%20jr%20-%20Drum%20Major%20Instinct%20Sermon.mp3

Transcript:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/sermons/680204.000_Drum_Major_Instinct.html

(Also thanks, wicket, for starting this thread)

:hug:

A short bit from a masterpiece:

Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and dealt death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it
must be ours.

This is the message of the great Buddhist leaders of Vietnam. Recently one of them wrote these words, and I quote:

Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the hearts of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of
violence and militarism.

:thumbsup:

:D

K&R

:hug: