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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOMG Rev. Al is just eviscerating this gun guy
How dare he say MLK approved of guns?
Go Al, GO!
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OMG Rev. Al is just eviscerating this gun guy (Original Post)
rurallib
Jan 2013
OP
irisblue
(32,956 posts)1. Rev Al was good! nt
hack89
(39,171 posts)2. MLK and his guns
Most people think King would be the last person to own a gun. Yet in the mid-1950s, as the civil rights movement heated up, King kept firearms for self-protection. In fact, he even applied for a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
A recipient of constant death threats, King had armed supporters take turns guarding his home and family. He had good reason to fear that the Klan in Alabama was targeting him for assassination.
William Worthy, a journalist who covered the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, reported that once, during a visit to King's parsonage, he went to sit down on an armchair in the living room and, to his surprise, almost sat on a loaded gun. Glenn Smiley, an adviser to King, described King's home as "an arsenal."
As I found researching my new book, Gunfight, in 1956, after King's house was bombed, King applied for a concealed carry permit in Alabama. The local police had discretion to determine who was a suitable person to carry firearms. King, a clergyman whose life was threatened daily, surely met the requirements of the law, but he was rejected nevertheless. At the time, the police used any wiggle room in the law to discriminate against African Americans
Eventually, King gave up any hope of armed self-defense and embraced nonviolence more completely.
A recipient of constant death threats, King had armed supporters take turns guarding his home and family. He had good reason to fear that the Klan in Alabama was targeting him for assassination.
William Worthy, a journalist who covered the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, reported that once, during a visit to King's parsonage, he went to sit down on an armchair in the living room and, to his surprise, almost sat on a loaded gun. Glenn Smiley, an adviser to King, described King's home as "an arsenal."
As I found researching my new book, Gunfight, in 1956, after King's house was bombed, King applied for a concealed carry permit in Alabama. The local police had discretion to determine who was a suitable person to carry firearms. King, a clergyman whose life was threatened daily, surely met the requirements of the law, but he was rejected nevertheless. At the time, the police used any wiggle room in the law to discriminate against African Americans
Eventually, King gave up any hope of armed self-defense and embraced nonviolence more completely.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-winkler/mlk-and-his-guns_b_810132.html
It is not a simple issue - it appears that regardless of his personal feelings about violence, he also appreciated the need for self protection. Eventually he did fully embrace nonviolence.
rurallib
(62,406 posts)4. that was addressed in the segment
with Rev. Al noting strongly that King did go strongly totally non- violent.
Not like it would have helped him anyway.
Kennah
(14,248 posts)5. The two issues are perfectly compatible
One can support self defense, up to and including use of deadly force, and also support peaceful, non-violent, non-cooperation.
Dr. King did NOT combine guns and protest.
one_voice
(20,043 posts)3. He was great..
Dinner was on the table, but me, hubby and son all stopped to go in and watch. He did a great job! That was the topic of conversation at dinner.