The 20th Century's Epic Hero
I'm grateful to E.J. Graff and Nathan Newman for spurring some discussion of the legacy of the under-appreciated man for whom this too-little-honored holiday is devoted.
In that spirit, I thought I'd share some comments made back in 1998 by Alan Wolfe, in a review of the second volume of Taylor Branch's series of books about King's life and work.
"Our century's identity has been to insure that the ideal of civic equality announced to the world in 1776 would become a reality. Just to help make that come about, King had to overcome the determined resistence of terrorists without conscience, politicians without backbone, rivals without foresight and an FBI director so malicious that he would stop at nothing to destroy a man who believed in justice....
"For all the tribulations his enemies confronted him with, it is not those who foolishly and vainly stood in his way whom we remember, but Martin Luther King, Jr., our century's epic hero."
In an address delivered in Washington to multiple standing ovations, Vice President Al Gore repeatedly attacked the Bush Administration for the expansion of executive power -- the ability of the government to wiretap its own citizens without legal authority and kidnap Americans abroad.
His speech -- which compares the wiretapping of Martin Luther King to the broad surveillance now imposed on Americans by President Bush -- called on Congress to resume its oversight responsibilities, and enjoined Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to appoint a special prosecutor. Gore was to be introduced by former Rep. Bob Barr, a Georgia Republican who has advocated for the constitutional right to privacy. The full text of his speech follows....
January 16, 2006 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was listening to Alterative Radio's King Day program. It was King's speech of April 1967 called Beyond Vietnam. It resonated so strongly with current conditions I bought the transcript for download.
King was breathtakingly perceptive, powerfully poetic, unassailably righteous. This particular speech is must-read today. It proves that a war based on a moral flaw will surely fail. Like Chomsky, King turns our values around and uses them from another direction to show how our actions look from outside.
I came of age in the sixities, was in high school when King was killed, and had to face the draft. His story is personal history. I watched the March on Washington. My parents heard Marian Anderson on Mall. I demonstrated against the bombing of Cambodia.
King should be on our currency, replacing that redneck Andrew Jackson.
January 16, 2006 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I heard Dr. King speak at an anti-war rally in front of the UN in April 1967. He was great. It might be the same speech you heard on radio. It makes me sick to watch W speak at MLK Day ceremonies. He violates the main tenets of King's beliefs every day.
January 16, 2006 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The speech I heard was given at Riverside Church, NY, April 4, '67.
No wonder he made Hoover nervous; that speech undercut the Vietnam intervention at its roots in the 50's.
January 17, 2006 5:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
It was probably given the same weekend and probably before he went to the UN rally.
January 17, 2006 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink