Observation of MLK, Jr.

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AuthorTopic: Observation of MLK, Jr.
Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
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This may seem a bit too obvious, but what do you think of Martin Luther King, Jr.? He is arguably the most influential man outside of (or even including) the government in the African American civil rights movement, but many people, far more than I would have expected before this topic was posted last year, disagree with him on many personal points. Some say that while they respect his words and actions, they cannot respect him, personally, because he was, after all, a philanderer. Others do not respect his words and actions because they were too moderate, too unlike those of Malcolm X. Others believe they were too extreme, but if any of you are on these boards, you may want to reconsider that - either the viewpoint, or being on these boards.

So. Qu'est-ce que vous pensez?

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Posts: 3351 | Registered: Saturday, April 6 2002 08:00
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No one can live a perfect life and everyone has a least one dark secret that they never share. That doesn't mean everyone should stop trying to live the best life they can. So I can forgive MLK, Jr. for his sins. Especially since he changed the nation in a significant and positive way even though it was dangerous. If only everyone would do so.

Dikiyoba.
Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
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quote:
Originally written by Dikiyoba:

Especially since he changed the nation in a significant and positive way even though it was dangerous. If only everyone would do so.

Dikiyoba.

Strike the word significant and I agree with you. Not that part about MLK making a significant change, but that everyone should do so.

And on MLK day I'm at work. Holidays have become a function of paid/unpaid with not much remembrance of the rationale. Forcing a government shutdown for a day doesn't strike me as an effective way to remember King's efforts to bring racial equality to the USA. I haven't thought much about an alternative though, except maybe that it should be one of a series of days set aside for people to do charity work if they so choose. But then again, that would be the gov't telling employers how to run their businesses.

*this message sponsored by rosa parks - the other catalyst*

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quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

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Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00
Agent
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I think the world is better off with him dead. Now I'm not saying that I hate him or whatever, but if he hadn't been murdered then it would of taken a lot longer for the desired effects to come into play. Yes I respect him and yes I think he's cool. Oh and for starting and responding...
*gives Lady Davida, Dikiyoba, and Jumpin Salmon a cookie* :D

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Posts: 1186 | Registered: Friday, June 18 2004 07:00
Triad Mage
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He was a great man and one of the greatest orators our country has ever known.

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Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00
Law Bringer
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quote:
Originally written by Jumpin' Salmon:

Strike the word significant and I agree with you. Not that part about MLK making a significant change, but that everyone should do so.
Agreed. If everyone in the world made a significant change, we'd have quite a few more lunatics running around trying to further impractical, immoral, or impossible agendas. That, and we'd see quite a few more suicide bombers. It's the little positive things that make life more tolerable, anyway...

quote:
Originally written by Jumpin' Salmon:

Holidays have become a function of paid/unpaid with not much remembrance of the rationale. Forcing a government shutdown for a day doesn't strike me as an effective way to remember King's efforts to bring racial equality to the USA.
Also agreed. The community service idea sounds good, though. Really, there just needs to be a five second spot on the news to remind people. We don't need these huge mini-series things that explore every single aspect of King's life. We just need to remember the message, and the positive changes he made in the political landscape of the U.S. Thus, this topic is a good way to remember MLK Jr., at least in my opinion.

In short, we need to cut the hype so people don't miss the real point.

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Posts: 4130 | Registered: Friday, March 26 2004 08:00
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I think it's a little sad that MLK absorbed all the credit and left some other very important activists outside of common knowledge, but that was part of the plan. He was a great orator, a charismatic man personally, and a man with his heart in the right place.

Was he necessary to the Civil Rights Movement? I don't think so. It would have happened without him. Did he help to speed up and facilitate the process? Definitely, and he did his best to follow the rules set by the government and keep everything as peaceful as possible. That is no mean contribution.

—Alorael, who doesn't care about MLK's personal life. It was not and is not relevant to his work.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Triad Mage
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It's similar to how Rosa Parks rose to fame while Claudette Colvin will be ignored forever.

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Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00
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quote:
Originally written by Drakefyre:

It's similar to how Rosa Parks rose to fame while Claudette Colvin will be ignored forever.
That is similar to every aspect of societal change. Not undesirable either, since most folks putting their efforts into change do not desire the notoriety that accompanies it.

Besides, the list of holidays would overwhelm the calendar...

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quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

Well, I'm at least pretty sure that Salmon is losing.


Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00
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The SCLC leadership decided deliberately that MLK was a great public face for the movement. They also decided that Rosa Parks was more likely to generate good publicity than Claudette Colvin. I think both may have been smart strategic decisions, however unfair to the fame of others they may have been.

—Alorael, who knows that King's role as the man behind civil rights angered and alienated some other activists, particularly in light of his moderation. The younger activists in particular weren't all that eager to throw everything behind one man who, in their view, caved in to the government too easily.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
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I personally have nothing against MLK except for the fact that he was a unfateful husband and a communist. As for his work, I once again have nothing against him, however my feelings on how some of his followers not to be confussed with all of his followers reacted to him was in a diffrent matter to itself.However I think that many people on this board might be interested in studying up on the life, times and works of Ralph Ellison. He wrote works such as, "Invisible Man", Novel, and "Bingo", Short story incase you didn't know.

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Posts: 1046 | Registered: Friday, March 22 2002 08:00
Off With Their Heads
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He wasn't a communist. He was a democratic socialist (and yes, if I cared, I could find something more authoritative than Wikipedia). Totalitarian communism (i.e. the Soviet Union) and democratic socialism (i.e. Scandinavian welfare states) are completely different.

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Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
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I didn't find that on Wikipedia. I found it somewhere else. On another Forum actually.

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"I am Batman". Batman.

"I was Escobars guy, I was untouchable".

George Jung-Blow.

"Dare to disturb the Universe". The Chocolate War.

There is nothing sadder Than wasted Talent.

Lorenzo, A Bronx Tale.
Posts: 1046 | Registered: Friday, March 22 2002 08:00
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For what he did, he deserves to be remembered.

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Posts: 102 | Registered: Wednesday, January 12 2005 08:00
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quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

completely different.
Indeed so, but good luck arguing that point with some people. :rolleyes:

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Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00
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I frankly don't care. If I were an African American, whatever that means, I might hold an opinion, but life probably wouldnt change for me if he had existed or not. I don't think the fact that he may have philandered really has anything to do with the civil rights movement though.

[ Tuesday, January 17, 2006 12:48: Message edited by: Grignard ]
Posts: 23 | Registered: Saturday, September 6 2003 07:00
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great man with great ideas. Every movement needs a powerful orator (and the more the better!) and he was one of the most powerful of the "Civil Rights Movement." I could go into detail and glorify him all I want, but the most important thing at hand that makes him great in my eyes is that, in his death, he gives us dudes in high school a day off. Every single year.

Pity it cost a life. We ought to have more days off from school!

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--Dachnaz
Posts: 50 | Registered: Saturday, January 14 2006 08:00
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Speaking of MLK here's my question to you. Now adays people are celebrating diversity in Northern Cities, NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, Ect. this is my question to you. Should New Orleans become more diverse since right now it is a predominitly Black city, in the future?

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"I am Batman". Batman.

"I was Escobars guy, I was untouchable".

George Jung-Blow.

"Dare to disturb the Universe". The Chocolate War.

There is nothing sadder Than wasted Talent.

Lorenzo, A Bronx Tale.
Posts: 1046 | Registered: Friday, March 22 2002 08:00
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A city can't be made more diverse by fiat. Celebration of diversity shouldn't mean enforced specific diversity quotas, either.

—Alorael, who just walked right into an affirmative action debate. For the record, what he means is that saying New Orleans is too black is as absurd as saying that Minneapolis is too white. Expecting cities to conform to some ideal demographic opens an enormous can of worms.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
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Different cities attract different groups of people. As it should be. Just find the city that works for you. Or go live in the country if you don't like cities. The more one area becomes like another, the more frustrated people get.

Dikiyoba.

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Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
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Right, it's just that New Orleans wasn't allways predominitly black. It use to be French, Italian, Black, Hispanic, Spainard, and a bucnh of other things as well. After all the state of Luisiana was settled bye The Spanish, than taken over bye The French. Hence The French quarter. And it wasn't allways povished as well, it use to be the biggest Sea port in The Confederatcy, it was a far diffrent city in 19'th and early 20'th centory. Bye the way this has absolutly nothing to do with affirmitive action. Or quoters. I just brought this up because think about what happend after Cathrina this past fall, and think if that was the librals back in the 60's goals when they tried to reform the country for civil rights.

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"I am Batman". Batman.

"I was Escobars guy, I was untouchable".

George Jung-Blow.

"Dare to disturb the Universe". The Chocolate War.

There is nothing sadder Than wasted Talent.

Lorenzo, A Bronx Tale.
Posts: 1046 | Registered: Friday, March 22 2002 08:00
Shock Trooper
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Back to MLK...

I think the saddest part of the Civil Rights movement was MLK's bunch getting their rear ends handed to them by Dick Daley's machine in Chicago. Mr. King's oratory and peaceful tactics were enough to defeat out and out hatred and violence in the deep south, but not enough to defeat corruption and hypocrisy in the North. The best way to remember MLK is to try and succeed where he failed - make urban living conditions equal for all races (or at least make some effort to ease de facto segregation).
Posts: 293 | Registered: Saturday, May 29 2004 07:00
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quote:
Originally written by Dupreciation:

—Alorael, who just walked right into an affirmative action debate. For the record, what he means is that saying New Orleans is too black is as absurd as saying that Minneapolis is too white. Expecting cities to conform to some ideal demographic opens an enormous can of worms.
I live in Minneapolis. And I know what you mean now! I mean, I think "whites" are a majority in the city but it's gotta be close. Minneapolis boasts a huge amound of Hmong, Somali, and Latino immigrants. And I love how while there are some racially segregated parts of town (like the parkways), Minneapolis has extraordinarily integrated neighborhoods. Minne-po FTFW.

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--Dachnaz
Posts: 50 | Registered: Saturday, January 14 2006 08:00
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My actual point is that New Orleans is about two thirds black and, by some remarkable coincidence, Minneapolis is about two thirds white.

—Alorael, who wouldn't actually say that the cities are opposite. Minneapolis has a wide variety of relatively small minorities. New Orleans has a very substantial white minority.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
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I'm quite a large fan of MLK; to me, he seems to have taken what worked well for India and made it work even better for America. I know several people, however, who consider Malcolm X a better leader and a better man (seriously). In your opinion, how do they compare?

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And though the musicians would die, the music would live on in the imaginations of all who heard it.
-The Last Pendragon

Polaris = joy.

In case of emergency, break glass.
Posts: 3351 | Registered: Saturday, April 6 2002 08:00

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