A valuable read by Martin Luther King Jr.

Dude111

Quite inspirational reading...........

Martin Luther Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail


He was WELL AHEAD OF HIS TIME and very missed!!

mikemac1

A different time alright, a time when private lives were not reported on

That man had more women that JFK and him a Reverend and married man

If he were around today he'd be damaged faster then you can say Herman Cain or Bill Clinton

And while he was a better man then the two of them put together, nothing would have been hushed up as it was back then

It may be a valuable read but I struggle to take him seriously, maybe that's my fault for judging his actions

dave2pvd

mikemac1 wrote: »

A different time alright, a time when private lives were not reported on

That man had more women that JFK and him a Reverend and married man

If he were around today he'd be damaged faster then you can say Herman Cain or Bill Clinton

And while he was a better man then the two of them put together, nothing would have been hushed up as it was back then

It may be a valuable read but I struggle to take him seriously, maybe that's my fault for judging his actions

Really?

Care to expand on that?

Snickers Man

mikemac1 wrote: »

A different time alright, a time when private lives were not reported on

That man had more women that JFK and him a Reverend and married man

If he were around today he'd be damaged faster then you can say Herman Cain or Bill Clinton

And while he was a better man then the two of them put together, nothing would have been hushed up as it was back then

It may be a valuable read but I struggle to take him seriously, maybe that's my fault for judging his actions

What???

So you would have been more impressed if he was a nonsmoking teetotalling monogamous vegetarian decorated for bravery while a non commissioned officer but nevertheless a genocidal maniac than an advocate of equality of treatment for people of different races just because he liked the occasional tipple and a generous helping of (very willing) rumpy pumpy?

Call me Godwin but you're weird!

mikemac1

I like my politicians to lead by example and not be hypocrites and adulterers. And did we not have enough issues in this country with corrupt churchmen?
Is the man above criticism and verging on sainthood?

Your example was pretty good at the speeches too
He was not a teetotaler either

timesnap

mikemac1 wrote: »

A different time alright, a time when private lives were not reported on

That man had more women that JFK and him a Reverend and married man

If he were around today he'd be damaged faster then you can say Herman Cain or Bill Clinton

And while he was a better man then the two of them put together, nothing would have been hushed up as it was back then

It may be a valuable read but I struggle to take him seriously, maybe that's my fault for judging his actions

Rosa parks would have given her seat up on the bus if she knew that over fifty years later this type of attitude was still alive and well.

We wont mention Newt Gingritch's 23 year ex-marital affair whilst he was trying to get Clinton impeached over Monica.

Oh and don't you know JFK and MLK were murdered by people who frowned on minority groupings having any power.

Dude111

Yes i read JFK wouldnt go along with something (I cant recall what) so they got rid of him

JustinDee

mikemac1 wrote: »

He was not a teetotaler either

So what? He wasn't preaching against drinking or womanising.
He was obviously trying to right a wrong where black people were automatically treated as subservient to whites even in modern day America. Also influenced by mobilisation of every other civil rights movement including the Civil Rights marches in Northern Ireland in the late Sixties and early Seventies.

You don't want an human politican. You want a machine and there just aren't any out there.
Contrarians . . .

donaghs

Its a fair point though that MLK's levels of womanizing would not be possible in modern day American political life. Especially for a Reverand married with children.

But I dont think this takes away from the core of his civil rights beliefs, and his acheivements in this area.

mikemac1

JustinDee wrote: »

So what? He wasn't preaching against drinking or womanising.

That was not about MLK

I was posting in reply to the post above me.

This guy, read the whole thread

nonsmoking teetotalling monogamous vegetarian decorated for bravery

dave2pvd

mikemac1 wrote: »

That was not about MLK

I was posting in reply to the post above me.

This guy, read the whole thread

Now I'm confused.

Can you expand on what you wrote in post #2?

mikemac1 wrote:

A different time alright, a time when private lives were not reported on

That man had more women that JFK and him a Reverend and married man

If he were around today he'd be damaged faster then you can say Herman Cain or Bill Clinton

And while he was a better man then the two of them put together, nothing would have been hushed up as it was back then

It may be a valuable read but I struggle to take him seriously, maybe that's my fault for judging his actions

Snickers Man

mikemac1 wrote: »

Is the man above criticism and verging on sainthood?

What's a saint? Who ever said MLK was such a fantastical mythical figure? He was a man, a mortal mammal, with an exemplary attitude to the dignity that is or should be the birthright of all such creatures and a wonderfully erudite and inspirational talent for expressing such views and winning support for them.

His arguments in favour of essenital equality of dignity for all humans, and his generosity of spirit which encouraged him to express those arguments within the framework of the finer arguments of his peers in America, most of whom had been at best indifferent to and at worst vehemently in favour of the degradation of black people, are not refuted by his own sexual foibles. And I would have little sympathy for anyone who suggests they should be.

His "I have a dream speech" is a masterful harnessing of the language of the American revolution in support of his cause. What he effectively did was say to the Americans: You have a wonderful outlook; you have great values. You are an example to the world. All we're asking is that you live by that example.

Calling the famous preamble to the Declaration of Independence which says that "all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights....thse include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" a "bounced chegue" with regard to black people which was always "returned marked 'insufficient funds'" was a superb argument which at once challenged white America to be as good as it claimed to be and reassured it that his aspirations were entirely in tune with their own.

And you think it's invalidated because he couldn't keep his pecker in his pants?

Another distinguished North American politician put across his scorn at such shoddy reasoning quite famously when his glamorous wife disappeared for a dirty weekend with a rock star. Pierre Trudeau, former Canadian prime minister was asked whether his wife's behaviour would damage his career and he said "So my wife and I are having problems and because of that some people may decide they don't like my inflation policy? Well that's just too bad"


:

mikemac1 wrote: »

Your example was pretty good at the speeches too
He was not a teetotaler either

Yes he was.

timesnap

@ Snickersman your post is almost as good as anything he himself would have said and that is some compliment.
his Rhetoric was exceeded only by his bravery and his actions.
his quote "i may not get there with you,but i have seen the promised land" indicates to me that he knew many force's wanted him dead and in fact was tipped off by somebody that he knew he was on a hit-list.

I read his Bio a few years ago,one claim it made was that when away from home he sent his wife fresh flowers every night he was away from her,/ but the night before he died he sent her plastic ones.
i am sceptical about that claim and wonder can anybody confirm it?

as for his womanising well it would never have come to light only for the fact that J E Hoover of FBI fame wire-tapped every person he perceived as a threat to him keeping his job as well as those he perceived as a threat to America.

He had 'something' on anybody powerful because as soon as they emerged as being a potentially powerful person he compiled a file to be used against them.
It appears he had a particular hatred for the Kennedy's and MLK,but he did not stop there,if some accounts are to be believed Richard Nixon invited him on a long overseas trip on Airforce one in order to sack him gently,apparently Hoover guessed what was going to happen and brought along his file on Nixon,needless to say he was not sacked!

again i wonder if this account about Hoover/ Nixon is true.?

Hoover certainly did not keep his job because he was so good at it!
he survived every presidency despite the fact that usually a new president picks all his own staff?

this is the problem with history,new info emerge's all the time,as soon as people think they have researched every angle and are satisfied with their conclusions something emerge's to question oneself!:)

timesnap

Today is Martin Luther King day in America,in keeping with his and the Civil rights movement values, those who celebrate it do so by in some way helping out the most downtrodden in Society.

This link is to the MLK research and education institute.
it is a great resource for further reading about King,the movement and even audio recordings for anybody who would like to know more about the era.

http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/