Today is the federal American holiday that celebrates the life and legacy of the legendary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was the icon who helped changed the world, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the many leaders of the black freedom movement. His father and grandfather were Baptist preachers, so the church atmosphere influenced his life greatly. Atlanta, Georgia is the city of his birth, and his father and his mother taught him to stand up for himself. The date of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth was on January 15, 1929. He would be 93 years old today in 2022. His family included his parents Martin Luther King Jr. and Alberta Williams King. Back during the time of September 20, 1944, Dr. King started his freshman year at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. As a child, he played pranks, he played basketball, and he was an outgoing child. Back on August 6, 1946, The Atlanta Constitution published Dr. King's letter to editor stating that black people, "are entitled to the basic rights and opportunities of American citizens." As early as February 25, 1948, Dr. King was ordained and appointed assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Morehouse College on June 8, 1948. He went up north to Chester, Pennsylvania to study at Crozer Theological Seminar. He graduated from Crozer with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951, with him delivering the valedictory address at commencement. Dr. King started his graduate studies in systematic theology at Boston University on September 13, 1951. This is the place where he met Coretta Scott King. Coretta Scott King was a progressive like Dr. King. She even supported peace rallies and publicly opposed the Vietnam War. Coretta Scott King was a trained singer who toured the nation with her songs too. She was his equal. They married at the Scott home near Marion, Alabama on June 18, 1953. By September 1, 1954, Dr. King started his pastorate at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Albama. He earned his doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University on June 5, 1955.
As a child, he had a gifted oratory ability. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could convey complex concepts about social issues or economic issues in everyday language with an eloquent Southern accent. He earned his Ph.D.., and he worked with many leaders to promote his cause for the end of Jim Crow apartheid. He preached in Montgomery, Alabama when people organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to vacate her seat and over to the back of a bus. Claudette Colvin also protested this unjust discrimination too. Later, the boycott existed with more leaders like Jo Ann Robinson and the Women's Political Council members. There were leaflets printed in the thousands to let people know what they were going to do. Many people formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) with Dr. King elected as its President. Dr. King was threatened by racists, and his house was bombed on January 30, 1956. Yet, he never gave up. Bayard Rustin convinced Dr. King to give up his gun in his house to promote nonviolence as a personal philosophy. By November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the lower court opinion in Browder v. Gayle declared the Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws were unconstitutional. It would be one of many victories of the black freedom movement. Montgomery City Lines had their services without segregation, and Dr. King was among the first passengers to ride the new, integrated buses.
Later, Dr. King worked with the SCLC, the NAACP, SNCC, and CORE to work to make sure that strong legislation would be passed to advance true equality plus justice. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference or the SCLC wanted to continue to fight for justice. He was on the cover of Time magazine by February 18, 1957. In that same year, he gave the Give Us the Ballot speech at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. By 1958, Dr. King and their wife had 2 children of Yolanda and Dr. Martin Luther King III. In 1958, he met with Nixon and Eisenhower, and his first book was published called "Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story." In 1959, he visited India for a month to meet Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and many of Gandhi's followers. This time was before many of us knew about Gandhi's controversies. By 1960, Dr. King increased his work in the freedom struggle. He met privately with then Democratic Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. He was arrested during a sit in demonstration in Atlanta at Rich's department on October 19, 1960. He supported the Freedom Riders in 1961. The Freedom Riders wanted to enforce the legal integrated interstate bus drivers. Many of them were assaulted and buses were bombed. They persisted, even when they went into prison for their beliefs.
By 1961, he wanted President John F. Kennedy to issue a 2nd Emancipation Proclamation to eliminate racial segregation. The Albany movement in 1961-1962 wasn't as successful because of the slick action by Laurie Pritchett. In Albany, Georgia, Dr. King worked with Albany Movement President William G. Anderson, SNCC, and other groups. Bernice Albertine King was born on March 28, 1963. 1963 was one of the most important years of the Civil Rights Movement. This time was when Dr. King was in jail, and he wrote the Letter from The Birmingham Jail. This letter refuted moderate Jewish and Christian clergymen who wanted black Americans to just patiently wait for justice without massive demonstrations. Dr. King rightfully wrote that freedom is not based on the hands of a clock, but freedom must be given as soon as possible without delay. The letter made a distinction between just and unjust laws (and Dr. King made a point that once upon a time Hitler did legal things, but what Hitler did were part of unjust laws. Therefore, we have a moral right to reject unjust laws). In 1963, kids were hit with water hoses by racists, supported by Police Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Conner. Many cops used dogs, clubs, and cattle prods to harm black men, women, and even children in downtown Birmingham. It was so bad in Birmingham that black people in 1963 had no choice but to use self-defense to defend themselves from their homes being bombed and black people being killed. In that year, Dr. King's sermons called Strength to Love are published. On August 28, 1963, the March on Washington existed. It was planned by the 1940's by A. Philip Randolph, but now he got his wish. Dr. King, CORE, Bayard Rustin, and other human beings organized the whole march. It was a long time coming. The March on Washington wanted legislation to deal with civil rights, voting rights, economic justice, and other policies. Over 200,000 people were there at the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. The misconception about the speech is that it was solely about love. It was also an indictment of racism in America, a criticism of the status quo, and a condemnation of police brutality. The speech wanted justice, living wages, human justice, and real progressive change in the world. Labor and religious groups were involved in the March on Washington movement too. Dr. King met with President John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House after Dr. King's speech was finished. Each would support federal civil rights legislation.
Dr. King gave the eulogy at the funerals of Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Dianne Wesley. These were 3 of the 4 children who were murdered by the September 15, 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. These 4 children just wanted to worship God and have joy. Yet, racists murdered them. Carole Robertson, the fourth victim, was buried in a separate ceremony. The U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy authorized the FBI to wiretap King's home by October 10, 1963. On January 3, 1964, Dr. King was named "Man of the Year" by Time Magazine. Dr. King moved on in 1964 to promote LBJ's War on Poverty program, work in the St. Augustine, Florida Civil Rights movement, and he received the Nobel Peace Prize too. On March 26, 1964, he met with Malcolm X in D.C. to watch debates on the civil rights bill. This is their first and only time that they met. By this time, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam to form the OAAU group. Malcolm X said that he opposed segregation, but he wanted independence for black people. Also, Malcolm X explicitly criticized capitalism and opposed the Vietnam War. Why We Can't Wait was published in June of 1964. Dr. King supported the SNCC and CORE Freedom Summer campaign by July of 1964. J. Edgar Hoover criticized Dr. King in public as a liar after Dr. King rightfully said that the FBI failed to protect civil rights workers. Hoover used COINTELPRO to illegally harass progressive movements for social change. Dr. King met with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover at the Justice Department on December 1, 1964. J. Edgar Hoover was a hypocrite to claim to be for democratic values, but he used illegal tactics in monitoring fellow American citizens unjustly. In 1965, Dr. King and tons of people worked in the Selma movement. After Malcolm X's assassination, Dr. King gave comments respecting his passion for black freedom in a respectful tone. Malcolm X was also in Selma in 1965 to send positive words to Dr. King when Malcolm X talked with Coretta Scott King. Bloody Sunday took place on March 7, 1965, when innocent civil rights protesters were beaten by cops (many of them on horseback). They were at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Amelia Boynton was one leader of the Selma voting rights movement who was severely beaten by racist cowards. They wanted to go to Montgomery. They finally go into Montgomery to stand up for voting rights. By August 12, 1965, Dr. King opposed the Vietnam War in a mass rally at the ninth Annual Convention of SCLC in Birmingham. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, and it was a huge victory. Yet, more challenges came. Immediately, the rebellion in Watts happened in Los Angeles, California during the Summer of 1965. It wasn't a shock to us, but it was a shock to other Americans. Dr. King came to Los Angeles to witness the temperature of the situation. He was booed by some black people which was rare back then. Later, Dr. King was right to say that this system of oppression is more than what's going on in the South (but it dealt with also economic and social issues that existed from an oppressive oligarchy). Dr. King realized that it is important to evaluate the socio-economic conditions of the North, the Midwest, and the West coast in order to make freedom real for all people. That is why he traveled across America. In other words, it's fine to vote and to have civil rights. Yet, we also need to end poverty, to create great, affordable housing, to build up our health care system, and to create a society where living wages are real. The whole structure of society must change in order for inequalities to be abolished.
In January 26, 1966, Dr. King and his wife moved into Chicago to promote solutions to the poor conditions of housing in Chicago (at 1550 South Hamlin Avenue). He even met with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad in Chicago on February 23, 1966. The Black Power grew by June of 1966 after James Meredith was shot. Meredith desired to marched from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi, but he was shot by a racist near Memphis. Kwame Ture was in Mississippi to promote Black Love, and he wanted his friend, Dr. King to support his advocacy of Black Power. Dr. King agreed with Kwame Ture on black self-determination and the growth of economic plus political power in the black community. Yet, Dr. King rejected separatism. Black Power was an evolution of the black freedom struggle that wanted the growth of black independence. Back then, the concept of Black Power was misinterpreted as violent and racist (which wasn't the case). Even leaders of the NAACP like Roy Wilkins back then condemned Black Power as racist and extremist. Black Power meant different things to different people. The Chicago Movement in 1966 had mixed results. There was an agreement to do something about housing discrimination, but it was not very powerful. Dr. King said that he saw more racism in the Chicago area than in Mississippi. The reason is that there were thousands and thousands of white racists cursing, using signs of hate, and assaulting protesters when these protesters just wanted fair housing laws in Chicago. By January 1967, Dr. King was in Jamaica and realized that the Vietnam War must be more strongly opposed. So, he decided to be more overt in his criticisms of the war. On April 4, 1967, Dr. King gave his great Beyond Vietnam speech to the group of Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. This took place at the Riverside Church in New York City. It was one of his greatest speeches exposing how it's hypocritical for some to promote nonviolence in America for freedom, but they want violence in Vietnam to claim to promote freedom. The Vietnam War eliminated resources that could be better spent to build up American society and end poverty. By June 1967, he published his last book called "Where Do We Do From Here: Chaos or Community?" From 1967 to 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to London, Lexington (in Kentucky), Norfolk, NYC, Newark, and everywhere around the world, even in Geneva, Switzerland. He showed his message of love, nonviolence, anti-imperialism, and justice.
He suffered a lot too. He was stabbed by a deranged person (Izola Ware Curry in Harlem, NYC) and assaulted by a member of the American Nazi Party in Birmingham, Alabama on September 28, 1962. He was harassed illegally by the FBI and the NSA. He was hit in the head by a rock by a racist in the Chicago area in 1966. Yet, he never wavered in his committed to the philosophy of nonviolent resistance. He courageous opposed the Vietnam War in literature, speeches, and social activism. His words motivated all of us to continue forth in promoting the Dream for human justice fully. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others set an example of excellence that has inspired the whole Universe. His last causes were the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers protests and the Poor People's Campaign (as he wanted a radical redistribution of economic and political power to make sure that economic justice would be made real for all, not just the 1%). By April 3, 1968, he gave his last public speech. There was storm, and Dr. King was taking a nap. Yet, Ralph Abernathy called him to speak at Mason Temple. Dr. King did and gave his powerful "I've Been to the Mountaintop." The speech was prophetic in predicting that he may not see the Promised Land, but black people will see the Promised Land in the future. Dr. King talked about history, black economic empowerment, living wages, opposition to racism, and defying an unjust injunction all in one speech. Later, he talked with some of his best friends Ralph Abernathy and Dorothy Cotton. Afterwards, he planned on marching again in Memphis. He had a pillow fight, talked with people, and was in a joyful mood. Later, he was murdered while standing in the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Rebellions existed. Later, a memorial service was given to commemorate Dr. King's life. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was buried in Atlanta, Georgia on April 9, 1968. Ironically, we still face many of the same racism and voter suppression evils today in 2022 (Dr. King III, his wife, and their child came into Arizona to inspire Senator Sinema to reject the filibuster, so powerful voting rights legislation can be passed by the United States Congress) just like back then. Dr. King was much more revolutionary than some people assumed. He praised democratic socialism, he wanted reparations for black Americans, and he was focused on even advocating a boycott of the 1968 Olympics.
Rest in Power Brother Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 2022, all of us have seen massive changes in the atmosphere of the Earth. We have witnessed righteous people like Speech (from Arrested Development), Cicely Tyson, Kirsten West Savali, Tarana Burke, Bree Newsome-Bass, and Fannie Lou Hamer. Also, we have exposed modern day misogynists and evil extremists (who bash black women in an evil fashion. Anyone who bashes black women has no respect from me. I don't care who it is. You can't be pro-black and anti-women) like Tommy Sotomayor, Kevin Samuels, white racists, and Fresh and Fit spewing their lies plus distractions. We want solutions, not gender war agitation. We want women and men to reach their highest potentials in living their own lives. That is why in this Appendix, it is important to list real solutions. We know about the many problems in the black community (like poverty, colorism, mass incarceration, violence, abuse, miseducation, health issues, family issues, pollution, etc.), and now it's time to further describe solutions to our issues comprehensively. First, it is important to cultivate our knowledge of self to see our value as black people and be mentally pro-Blackness in our thinking plus actions. I side eye any person (who is black) who can't see the beauty and the intellectual power of black people. Community development is a must as there is no progress without building our black communities in America plus worldwide. Joining independent organizations is a great way to build bonds among our people justly. Exercise and eating nutritious foods are prerequisites in having an enriched mind, body, and spirt. The benefits of exercise and other health developing activities (like eating healthy foods like: organic bacopa tea, B vitamins, Omega 3s from chia or ground flax seeds, etc.) are key ways to build our immune systems, develop our intellects, grow confidence, and extend our life expectancies. Promoting pan-African unity means to appreciate our diverse cultures as black people (as we are not monolithic human beings. We have different creeds, customs, and traditions) and realize that we are all part of the same human family simultaneously.
I have no issues with nonviolence, but it is not evil to know legitimate self-defense as a way for us to experience self-preservation as black people. Gun clubs, martial arts training, and other courses of action are increasingly more common among black men and black women to protect our lives in this society. There is no freedom without building real infrastructure and institutions beneficial to our people. It is fine to learn financial literacy among young people and everyone else, but you have to apply that wisdom to build institutions too. So, there should be the growth of institutions that help our community like stores, banks, businesses, hospitals, therapy centers, etc. We must support real revolutionaries and revolutionary politics like being anti-imperialist, supporting the rights of the oppressed, and helping the poor. I find that many fake people lust after wealth without a concern of ending economic inequality or mocking the poor (like Charleton White who says that he is selfish, doesn't care about other people, and mocks God in profane terms. He said that he doesn't care about making a change. Him cursing out an elderly black woman in a church and calling his wife out of his name show that he is a coward. He is a known Trump supporter too). We should be the opposite of new age deceivers like Charleston White. You can show empathy towards the poor and call for a radical redistribution of the wealth being a real revolutionary. Health care for all, economic justice, living wages, and total voting rights make perfect sense. Growing our families is always necessary. Marriage should be strengthened to be fair among all parties involved. Using counseling, resources, financial training, and other methods will help nuclear, extended, single, and other types of families to thrive voluntarily. That grows black liberation. Community maters. Black Love and Black Unity (based on respect, reciprocity, sincerity, the love of Blackness, supporting black artists including writers, and integrity) are always critical ways in seeing true freedom and justice. We want black people to be free and experience true happiness. Teaching and helping others in mentorships, traveling, and cultivating wisdom will make a difference too. Opposing all injustices including misogynoir will help black lives constantly. These are some of the many solutions necessary to develop our black lives indeed.
By Timothy
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