Thank You Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Thank You Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
#0Thank You Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Posted: 1/16/06 at 11:11am
a few quotes from one of the greatest Americans, and why we celebrate him on this day.
This business of burning human beings with napalm,
of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows,
of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of
peoples normally humane, of sending men home from
dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped
and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled
with wisdom, justice and love.
A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.
If we are wrong, justice is a lie, love has no
meaning. If you succumb to the temptation of using
violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be
the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness,
and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless
reign of meaningless chaos.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he
stands in the moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy
Occasionally in life there are moments...which cannot
be completely explained by words. Their meaning can
only be articulated by the inaudible lanuage of the
heart.
and perhaps the most famous of all
Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of
God's children. I have a dream that one day this nation
will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed -
we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men
are created equal.
This will be the day, this will be the day when all of
God's children will be able to sing with new meaning
"My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee
I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's
pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to
ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and
every hamlet, from every state and every city, we
will be able to speed up that day when all of God's
children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles,
Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands
and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,
"Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty,
we are free at last."
#1re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 11:16amAmen, Elphaba! And Thank you, Dr. King.
DG
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#2re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 11:33am
Amen.
A personal hero, whose message is perhaps more important now than ever - worldwide.
Thank you for the gifts you gave, and the sacrifices you made for the benefit of others.
#3re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 1:29pmbump
#4re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 2:13pm
Even a white girl's got to shout. Thanks, Dr. King!
That was really nice, Elphaba.
#5re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 2:23pm
Thanks Elphaba for reminding us of the importance of today.
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#6re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 4:54pmThere's no way I'm going to let this guy get shunted off to the second page today. Martin Luther King provided an example for all of us to live by.
#7re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 4:57pmthank you Plum.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#8re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 4:58pmOh please. This is a waste of a good day.
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#9re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:04pmYou're entitled to your opinion. And entitled really is the appropriate word, isn't it?
DG
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#10re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:06pm
No matter how much I try to ignore some things that are said on this board, sometimes I can read something that absolutely makes my head spin right off of my body - and that's even knowing that it's only done to cause a reaction.
Well, Captain, consider yourself successful - you got what you desired.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#11re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:10pm
Well, I don't see the point why we have to celebrate Martin Luther King, JR on JUST this day...
I ask the same thing on Christmas, and on Easter, and on Valentines Day, and on birthdays, et cetera. Why can't I celebrate Christmas today, and Martin Luther King, JR on December 25th?
I didn't really mean to sound as racist as it came out. I swear. It just makes more sense to me to celebrate this day in February.
At last, I quote Samuel L Jackson "The best way to get rid of racism is to just stop talking about it." Maybe that's not exactly what he said, but that's the jist. It probably shouldn't be in quotation marks, but oh well.
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#12re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:13pm
The best way to get rid of racism is not to ignore it. Not talking about race relations just perpetuates the status quo, which is, let's face it, racist. I'm a member of too many subjugated groups to just turn my back on problems that so obviously (as you should be able to figure out, CO) still exist.
And if you can't figure out why Easter is in the spring, there really isn't much I can do to help you.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#13re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:28pmI understand why Easter's in the spring... but Christmas in December? Not so much. And I don't even believe Christ was born 2006 years ago, but that's another thread.
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#14re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:32pmIt doesn't matter; it's tradition. Holidays don't get moved around for your convenience- especially religious ones. They're tied to events and to the cycles of nature and they've been celebrated at about the same time for hundreds, even thousands of years. The repetition is what gives them power.
#15re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:34pmI decided not to respond to his post as it was so childish, insulting, whatever.......DG, just ignore him.
#16re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:36pm
Thanks for this thread Elphaba. I'm amazed at the amount of people who don't appreciate exactly what this man has done, not only for African American rights, but Human Rights in general.
Now if only the gay community could get someone like MLK...
#17re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:37pm
Thank you so much Elphaba fo starting this thread. It is so sad to think about what this country lost to the hands of one person so filled with hate.
DG
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#18re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:51pm
BobbyBubby - I think the gay rights movement had someone like him - Harvey Milk - but he was a little ahead of his time. If he were alive now . . .
And Elphaba, I try, I REALLY try to ignore it - but it cuts so very close to my heart. It really isn't even a response to him/her/it, it's more just a gut reaction to the ridiculous thoughts presented, which I never want to leave unchallenged - it's too important to me.
#19re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:53pm
I understand DG, I can relate. And you are right, Harvey came to us too soon, and left too soon. I still am moved when i am in the Castro, and see the cardboard cutout of him in what used to be his office window.
So few like him ever walk this earth
#20re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 5:53pmDG I agree, but sometimes childish thing should just be ignored.
thirdrowcenter
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
#21re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 9:37pm
Why did Robert F. Kennedy have this great man's phone tapped?
He wasn't a terrorist.
sweetiedarlinmia
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/8/04
#22re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 9:47pm
Thank you for the thread Elphaba.
The world is truely blessed to have had a great man such as Martin Luther King. Quite frankly, not talking about racism is to betray every single thing that Dr. King worked and died for. If he didn't talk about it, well I wouldn't be at the college I am, and had 95% of the opportunities I've had. Neither would've many of the people who are a part of this board, grace a stage or screen, sing a melody, write a eloquent phrase, pass a bill, save a life either on a operating table, at a defense table, a prayer table or a classroom table.
Captain, I've got a guote to answer your quote.
"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are of constantly experiencing it, second by literal second, how much more exhausted we are to constantly in your eyes."
-Barbara Smith
wexy
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/19/05
#23re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/16/06 at 10:04pm
Some young people don't know a freaking thing. When I was born in 1956 in Brooklyn, there was a black woman about to give birth but nobody wanted a black woman for a roomate, The staff went to my parents (my Dad survived 11 Concentration Camps) and they said "No problem." The woman Lorraine Lucas sends me birthday cards and obscure Jewish holiday cards for holidays I don't know about. For almost 50 years.
When i was 12 the year MLK was murdered, we had to cook or bake stuff to bring to class. Charlie Bullock baked corn bread. Mostof the white kids wouldn't eat something a black kid made (He turned my white ass on to cornbread) I ran into him, he's a parole office.
MLK had a great role in transforming our society and deserves to be remembered.
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#24re: Raise your hand if you have any idea who Martin Luther King Jr. was
Posted: 1/17/06 at 1:55amAnd as Elphaba's quotes indicated, Dr. King didn't just work to fight bigotry- he was a pacifist and anti-Vietnam activist as well, which makes him even more relevant.
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