The Supreme Court just gutted the VOTING RIGHTS ACT, and this conveersation--or rather, verbal catfight--is what's on people's minds? Whoever that lady was--I didn't know here---I wish her well if she's still alive. If she's gone on, may she rest in peace. Now is anyone interested in talking about how defend our right now under attack? YOu remember, those rights that THOUSANDS of our people went to prison for, or even died for? Is anyone interesting in discussing how we can improve our economic condition as a people? I mean, that's the sort of thing that a REAL African-American Forum would be focused on
-Savant
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Today is the 49th anniversary of the famous 1963 March on Washington, a mass demonstration of over a quarter million Americans demanding civil rights, economic justice and an end to racism and oppression.
Of course, it was the gathering where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave is eloquent "I have a Dream" speech. It is desirable that we remember that inspiring address which is one of the greatest orations of the 20th Century.
But it is also important that we remember that Dr. King's legacy, and that of the Movement he sympbolized and led, is ot reducible simply to those moving words spoken by him before the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Anyone can recall a few memorable words and prhases.
But do we remember the CAUSE? It wa about more than the winning of civil rights, or the rights of citizenship. It was also about th the quest for social and economic justice.
It is no coincidence that many placards carried that day by marcher had signs reading "JOBS and FREEDOM." Not only those precious civil liberties denied by the totalitarian racial caste system of the South, but also the concrete freedoms of economic justice and self-determination. Think not that the Dream has been realized while 12 million American children go to be hungry at night, and many millions more die of famine throughout the world.
Nor can the dream be realized while war rages and their are fordes within this country trying to roll back rights won by the Movement during the 1960s, including an effort right now to gut the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Yet even beyond basic civil and economic rights, there was more to the vision or goals of the Movement. Ultimately, th aim of the Movement was "the creation of BELOVED COMMUNITY". A cooperative society and community of freedom which affirms the dignity of every man woman and child on earth; a community encowed not only by freedom and justice, but human brotherhood as well. And this will require a "revolution of values" transforming us from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. A revolution of values entialing both social transformation and personal self-transformation.
It is only when we are committed to such change in oursleves and society that we can meaningfully talk of understanding the "Dream", and the whole cause for which hundreds of thousands of people marched in 1963, for which many gave their lives
-Savant
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for the same reason that most Black people used to vote Republican when it was the most liberal of the two parties, you simpleton.
The Republican party isn't even just conseravtive, It's party of rightwing nuts, or at least its leadership is.
Clue: It's not the Democrats who today are involved in voter suppression;
Clue: It's not the Democrats who are trying to strip workers rights to collective bargaining.(By th way, Dr. King was PRO-Labor and spent his last days fighting to achieve for Memphis sanitation workers what Scott Walker took from Wisconsin workers).
-Savant
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But in those days the Republicans were the most LIBERAL of the two parties. The CONSERVATIVE party--the party that sought to CONSERVE the status quo--were (at least in the South) the Democrats.
But that was a long time ago. By at least the 1930s, non-Southern Democrats like FDR began to move the Dems to the left.
Southern Democrats, however, remained as reactionary as ever. In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement succeeded in winning over the increasingly liberal Northern Democrats during the Kennedy/Johnson years.
Meanwhile, right wing Northern Repubicans allied with rightwing Dixiecrat segregationists.
For awhile you had liberal and moderate Dems and Reps leaning in favor of civil rights, and right wing Dems and Reps opposed.
But Barry Goldwater made the big push to move the Republicans toward the Right, and against Civil Rights. Already he drew in some o fthe disgruntled Dixiecrats.
Nixon, with his Southern strategy, intentionally appealed to racist sentiments of Dixiecrats to draw them into the Republican Party.
I guess that's why the South is so deeply Republican when it used to be Democrat. And also why Blacks are so overwhelmingly Democrat even though they used to be overwhelmingly Republican.
History's a bitch. Shyt happens.
In the 16th Century the Anabaptists were the most radical or "left" stream within Christianity. Today they (Baptists) are relatively conservative.
The once liberal Republicans are now reactionaries. The once reactionary Democrats are now liberal.
Obviously, the details are more complex. But I think I got the general picture right.
-Savant
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"Communist courses"? What are you talking about? Is this kind of like those old rumors about Obama being a "Muslim Communist" from Kenya?
We know that Dr. King's basic philosophical position was Personalism, which is a species of philosophical idealism. But Communism (at least in its Marxist-Leninist form) is a kind of MATERIALISM.
Can you explain how King could have held both positions? He was educated in Philosophy, and so he couldn't have missed the contradiction between these two philosophical perspectives.
In fact, he makes a CRITIQUE of communism in STRIDE TOWARD FREEDOM and STRENGTH TO LOVE, and he makes this critique from the standpoint of his own philosophical idealism.
How did you miss that critique when you read King's writings? Unless, of course, you think that Dr. King was a Christian communist then you make no sense.
-Savant
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was NOT a Republican or a Democrat. His father was a Republican, but he supported John F. kennedy rather than Richard Nixon for the presidency in 1960.
Dr. King was quite perturbed about the mistreatment Blacks were receiving from both parties--and said so.
Check out the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was clearly a DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST.more or less like your truly. But I'm spending more time than did he--more time than he had available--to think through the philosophical, ethical and social implications of a democratic socialist transformation. Getting my students to do this as well, is part of the way I continue the noble legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
-Savant
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bappie wrote:
These people need to stop watching Faux News and reading right-wing propaganda. Most of what they say can easily be disproved, smh.
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“Communist”. A red herring, a strawman, used to discredit anyone who challenges the corporate will.
If you support Unions... Communist! The word was used in fact for anyone supporting desegregation.
It all smacks of McCarthyism. Pretend that certain views (anything to the Left of Sarah Palin) are somehow unacceptable, and should be demonized. This is not a democratic attitude. It is a fascist attitude.
Most of the “liberal” social programs proposed by these “communists”(you know, people like the Kenyan) are established public policy in EVERY OTHER developed nation. Healthcare is the best example.
So apparently Germany, Japan, Israel, Canada and UK are “communist”. The communist menace.
Dr. King supported labor and opposed racism. Clearly a “communist”.
If you think so, you're a fascist. That makes you a traitor.
-Sinajuavi
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