Presenting the real Martin Luther King

From Institute for Public Accuracy

While Martin Luther King Jr. was widely commemorated recently for his work in the civil rights movement, the following analysts are available to discuss King’s work — including aspects that are often overlooked. In his "Beyond Vietnam" speech delivered a year to the day before he was killed, King called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today," saying it was "on the wrong side of a world revolution." In his "Where Do We Go From Here?" speech he criticized the nature of capitalism, arguing that "we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." [See the King Papers Project ]

REV. JOSEPH LOWERY

Co-founder with King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Modesto's 1999 MLK Commemoration speaker, Rev. Lowery said: "I have a dream that the nation will see more than the 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Martin was a nonviolent revolutionary and he’s been portrayed like some little dreamer. We need to remember his views on capitalism and militarism and the responsibility of both the public and private sector to make up for their sins: to have affirmative action — some rightwingers are using his statement on ‘content of character’ to claim he would be opposed to it. We need to remember his vision for the Poor People’s Campaign, where we talked about everyone having an income and full employment."

GWEN PATTON

Archivist of the Montgomery Pioneer Voting Rights Activists at Trenholm State Technical College in Montgomery, Alabama, Patton said: "King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech was at the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom, organized with labor leadership, and it was in the context of full citizenship rights. Revisionists have taken all the meaning out of that march, but it was largely about economic justice and jobs and education. Just as we overcame restrictions on the right to vote, we still have the barrier of money in the political process — that’s what is standing in the way of full citizenship rights."

DAVID J. GARROW

Author of the Pulitzer Prize winner Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and professor at Emory University Law School, Garrow said: "It’s ironic that King is being portrayed as a sort of celebrity; King was humble about his notoriety and didn’t feel individually deserving. He was sort of the anti-Clinton. From a sense of excessive honors came a sense of obligation about Vietnam and economic injustice."

JAMES H. CONE

Author of Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare? and professor at the Union Theological Seminary, Cone said: "From ‘65 to ‘68, you get what Martin really meant by ‘the dream.’ It was not just idealism for him, it was something you had to work for: economic and political equality. Malcolm articulated the nightmare of America that most people of color experience."

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

Edward James Olmos, actor, director, producer, and community activist. inspired hundreds of Modesto area residents with Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision of "the one and only human race" during his recent visit to memorialized "the only national hero of color"

Speaking before a standing-room-only crowd which lined the walls of the Modesto High School auditorium, gathered for the annual Martin Luther King Commemoration, he felt honored to celebrate King's legacy, aligning him with others whose "ideals and vision were pure of intent," including Simon Bolivár, Cesár Chavez, Jesus, Mother Theresa, Delores Huerta, and Mahatma Gandhi.

Olmos, an ideal ambassador for King's message of unity and justice for all, claims to be Chicano-American first, Asian second, and European third. Olmos is a Hungarian name and his ancestry includes Moranos or Transversos, Jews who converted to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition to avoid religious persecution and torture. He also includes African ancestry. It is this global heritage 'that made me brown," he says with pride.

"Nonviolent social change is the essence of my life," he emphasizes. His mission is an ongoing commitment to empowering parents and communities to infuse in each child "a strong sense of self-worth, self-esteem, ad self-respect". He sees empowerment as the tool through which we can lessen teen pregnancies, drug abuse, gang membership, and other social ills. He went on to stress that both non-violence and violence driven by fear are learned behavior,

"Youth is the hope, elders are the wisdom," he reminded. As the cross-culture saying goes, "Hope without wisdom is hopeless, wisdom without hope dies." "Elders," Olmos points out, "are truly the gift."

Quoting the concept "It takes a village to raise a child," Olmos is saddened by a tendency to "take care of our own kind," He promotes the practical "selfish wisdom" of not only coming home to check on our own families, property, and members of our personal special interest groups, but also of looking across the street and to either side of us to check on the safety and well-being of those with whom we share neighborhoods and communities.

Olmos pints to "religious understandings" which "constantly divide us." He also believes "the truths of life are not expressed equally, because the male-female balance is unequal."

He feels the concept of empowerment must take on global proportions. "If we empower the Third World countries, so they can live as First World countries, then they won't all be at our (the United States') front door."

"Here Serbians, Croatians, and Albanians all live together, Jews and Arabs co-exist as neighbors, and the Irish marry the English and have children." It is this experiment, where all cultures, creeds, and understandings come together as one United States of American people, that makes America great.

ACTION: Seek out some vehicle through which you can "join the village" and help "raise the children." Many opportunities are offered through the Connections calendar and various other community researches.