Most today are familiar with Martin Luther King Jr. giving powerful speeches, but it is rarer to see clips of him engaged in conversation. For MLK Day this year, check out the following video when King appeared on Meet the Press on March 28, 1965.
In the video, King discusses voting rights, police brutality, the civil rights movement, and recent nonviolent protests. The interview took place one week after King led the five-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to push for voting rights and raise awareness about civil rights violations. A transcript of the interview is available at the King Center website.
It is interesting to see the long interview in context as in the above video. We see another side of King. . . and the media.
Recently, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes analyzed King’s appearances on Meet the Press from 1960-1966, noting that the questioning often shows that the mainstream media seemed at war with King.
What do you think of King’s appearance on Meet the Press? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, and Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day here in the United States. Below are some recent stories related to the holiday. For more history on the holiday, as well as Stevie Wonder’s birthday song for the great man, check out thisChimesfreedom post on MLK Day.
– The National Park Service will correct a paraphrased quote on the Martin Luther King Day Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C. The chiseled quote is not only an inaccurate quote, but the change makes it sound like a boast: “”I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.” King actually said in a 1968 speech, “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”
– Amnesty International considers what King would think about today’s criminal justice system and what he had to say about capital punishment.
– The Huffington Post collects a number of quotes from MLK. Hopefully these are more accurate than the one chiseled in stone on the memorial.
– Finally, below is a 2009 U2 performance of “MLK,” the final song song from their Unforgettable Fire (1984) album. Here, they use the song as a lead-in to their song “Walk On” from All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2002).
In this 2009 performance, U2 dedicates the songs to Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who for fifteen years was under house arrest in Burma to suppress her struggle for democratic freedoms. I think King would have been happy to share his song with her. I think he’d be even prouder to share his birthday weekend this year with Burma’s release of a large number of dissidents and the government signing a cease fire with rebels. Walk on.
On January 15 in 1929, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Today we celebrate that birth.
A generation has grown up with the third Monday in January being Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Thus, it may be difficult for some to understand why there was a debate about whether or not to have a day of celebration for the great man.
The Work for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day
A campaign for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day started not long after King’s assassination in 1968. But the day did not become a federal holiday until 1983 when Pres. Ronald Reagan signed it into law. Even then, some were opposed to the holiday. Pres. Reagan initially was opposed to it, citing cost concerns.
But the matter did not end in 1983, and it took time for some states to get on board to make it a state holiday. In the early 1990s, Arizona received much criticism for its failure to have an official paid holiday after Gov. Evan Mechan rescinded an order from the previous governor, Bruce Babbit, who had made the day a holiday.
Eventually, Arizona recognized the day through a popular referendum (after an earlier one lost in 1990). New Hampshire was the last state to have a day named after MLK, adopting it in 1999 (the state had adopted the day as “Civil Rights Day” in 1991). South Carolina was the last state to adopt the holiday as a paid holiday for state employees, and that occurred in 2000.
Time marches on. Just as kids today may not understand how MLK Day was even an issue in the 1980s and 1990s, it is hard for me, born in the 1960s, to comprehend the violent discrimination that went on in the 1950s and 1960s. And I’m sure most of the kids who were alive in 1911 did not understand how people kept a race of people in slavery just fifty years earlier.
Humans can be pretty stupid, but fortunately, a lot of times we start to figure things out, even if it takes a long time. And we still have a lot to figure out when it comes to discrimination against others.
Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday”
One person who does have great perception of human beings is Stevie Wonder. In 1980, when people were debating whether MLK Day should be a federal holiday, Stevie Wonder recorded a song asking why something so logical was taking so long. He released “Happy Birthday” in 1981.
In “Happy Birthday,” Wonder reminded people why Martin Luther King Jr. deserved a special holiday.
The time is overdue, For people like me and you, Who know the way to truth, Is love and unity to all God’s children.
It should be a great event, And the whole day should be spent, In full remembrance Of those who lived and died for the oneness of all people.
So let us all begin We know that love can win Let it out don’t hold it in Sing it loud as you can, Happy birthday to you.
So, crank it up and take some time to celebrate the birth of a great human being. Sing it loud as you can. Happy Birthday to You! And thanks.
