Celebrating Dr. King

It looks like we will be continuing our long tradition of the Martin Luther King Day March and Rally. For many years this event has brought together a coalition of progressives from all sectors of the campus and community. This year is expected to be especially significant in the wake of Chapel Hill's decision to rename Airport Road as Martin Luther King Boulevard.

In honor of King, the NAACP is organizing a rally at 9:30 a.m. Monday in front of the Franklin Street post office. The rally will be followed by a march down Franklin Street at 10:15 a.m.

The march will end at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. service. The keynote speaker at the event is the Rev. William J. Barber II.

Barber served as the executive director of the N.C. Human Relations Commission for many years and formed a community development corporation in Goldsboro that, among other things, works to revitalize the inner city.
- Daily Tarheel, 1/14/05

Unfortunately, I won't be there (for the first time in many years), so please go and hold a sign up high for me!

Issues: 

Comments

Rob, thanks for the tip on the broken link, it's been fixed.

The road renaming has been discussed ad nauseum here for the past year. If you have something to add to that conversation please do it on of the many threads about that topic*. This one is about a day to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King. Thanks.

*see:
http://orangepolitics.org/2004/12/leadership-foibles-obstruct-process/
http://orangepolitics.org/2004/12/one-more-road-renaming-to-go/
http://orangepolitics.org/2004/11/15000-for-what/
http://orangepolitics.org/2004/11/mlk/
http://orangepolitics.org/2004/08/mlk-blvd-committee/
http://orangepolitics.org/2004/04/whats-their-problem/
http://orangepolitics.org/2004/01/martin-luther-king-boulevard/

The first link in that post appears to be broken.

Though I understand Chapel Hill's desire to honour King, I still believe that renaming a road that has a historically-relevant name is not the best way of doing so. King stood for life, liberty, and the possibilities thereof; wouldn't a new civic building or a public space - rather than a stretch of 4-lane - be a better choice? It saddens me to see Airport Rd pass into history - just as it will sadden me if UNC manages to close the Airport itself - as it seems to put Chapel Hill one step closer to the faceless anonymity of a sprawling bedroom commuter community. Several towns in this area already have MLK roads, and it just seems like we're failing to be remotely original in our recognition of King, whilst simultaenously erasing part of our very real - and somewhat individual - history.

Attending Baptist churches is a great way to honor MLK Jr.

A church that has altar call(s)at the end of the sermon is an authentic Baptist church.

Amen

As Jack well knows, the Baptist faith is non-creedal, and each congregation has complete autonomy. Whether the congregation chooses to have altar calls or not is a matter for the congregation to decide. A basic tenet of the faith is that no one -- not even Jack, with whom I've sparred enjoyably over the years on matters of faith -- has the authority to declare how a Baptist church will worship.

Goodness Duncan, if you don't respond publicly to an altar call---how can you be baptized?

There is some scripture on this but I don't want to come across preachy.

There are a lot of baptists, and a lot of baptist churches. There was only one MLK Jr. Shouldn't we focus on honoring him? Here are some of his thoughts, still quite relevant, although not about local politics (apologies to Ruby):

"There is something seductively tempting about stopping there and sending us all off on what in some circles has become a popular crusade against the war in Vietnam. I say we must enter the struggle, but I wish to go on now to say something even more disturbing. The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality we will find ourselves organizing clergy- and laymen-concerned committees for the next generation. They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy."

Here's a link to one of his greatest speeches:

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html

Took my daughters to the Lincoln Memorial yesterday, so we could see the scene of the great speech. We bought a copy and read it. We talked about the connection between Lincoln's thoughts in the Second Inaugural (which never ceases to bring tears to my eyes) and King's "Dream" speech.

Very moving experience.

Eric,

Very moving indeed just like the Gettysburg address.

I believe Dr. King would be in favor of:

- National Security & Defense
-fixing social security/privatization
-promoting Dr. Rice to Secretary of State

Who can say for sure that Dr. King would not support the policies of this administration?

We need to move on -away from this "victim" mentality and come together as Americans.

Since living in Chapel Hill for over 7 years, I've seen a lot of talk, protests & little action. I know several historically black churches that could use some support.
Honor Dr. King with your actions.

Any takers???....593-4448

Jack--I suggest that you read MLK's speech at the Riverside Church with the link I provided above. He clearly opposed US imperialism, identifying the US as the main exporter of violence to the world. He also denounced the US for spending so much money on the military rather than on programs for poor people.

He was killed in Memphis, where he had come to support a strike of sanitation workers. In the last year of his life, he ever more forcefully advocated the notion that poor white people and African Americans must come together to transform the power structure of the US. The 'liberal' media (the New York Times, the Washington Post) had by this point largely abandoned him, denouncing him as someone who should not have strayed from the narrow concepts of civil rights that they supported. We cannot know for certain what he would say about politics today--however, his principled stances against non-violence and advocacy for the poor and oppressed make it difficult to imagine him supporting much that the current administration has done at home or abroad.

I don't think MLK Jr. understood
21st century threats as well as Dr.
Rice & the President. Too many in this town are stuck in the sixties.

I'm still waiting for some phone calls:
ACTIONS speak louder than words.

If Saddam could have nuked us, don't you think he would have?

The answer is not clear, Mark. Having the means is not the same as haveing the will.

Jack, in your fantasy world Dr. King is apparently a Bush supporter, an idea that astonishes me with its shamelessness. Bush represents everything King fought against: the arrogance of power, plutocracy, racism, war & imperialism. You are obviously a troll, why would anyone want to talk to you on the phone? I suggest reading The Rude Pundit's take on the King vs. Bush issue.

 

Community Guidelines

By using this site, you agree to our community guidelines. Inappropriate or disruptive behavior will result in moderation or eviction.

 

Content license

By contributing to OrangePolitics, you agree to license your contributions under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Creative Commons License

 
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.