Charles M. Blow: ‘The Most Dangerous Negro’

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/29/opinion/blow-the-most-dangerous-negro.html?_r=0

‘The Most Dangerous Negro’
By CHARLES M. BLOW
Published: August 28, 2013


The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” so disturbed the American power structure that the F.B.I. started spying on him in what The Washington Post called “one of its biggest surveillance operations in history.” The speech even moved the head of the agency’s domestic intelligence division to label King “the most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation from the standpoint of Communism, the Negro and national security.”

Of course, King wasn’t dangerous to the country but to the status quo. King demanded that America answer for her sins, that she be rustled from her waywardness, that she be true to herself and to the promise of her founding.

snip//

Martin Luther King was a preacher, not a politician. He applied pressure from outside the system, not from within it. And I’m convinced that both forms of pressure are necessary.

King’s staggering achievement is testament to what can be achieved by a man — or woman — possessed of clear conviction and rightly positioned on the side of justice and freedom. And it is a testament to the power of people united, physically gathering together so that they must be counted and considered, where they can no longer be ignored or written off.

There is a vacuum in the American body politic waiting to be filled by a young person of vision and courage, one not suckled to sleep by reality television and social media monotony.

The only question is who will that person be. Who will be this generation’s “most dangerous” American? The country is waiting.

[Scuba]

1. And he wasn't even armed with Skittles or iced tea!

[Volaris]

3. The words of the "I Have a Dream" speech (and it's impact on American social Justice)

are likely why Skittles and Iced Tea BECAME dangerous to people of the wrong mindset, because there are still people who think like Charles M. Blow.

[radiclib]

4. You didn't read what he wrote

[Glitterati]

2. So, they watched his every move

recorded his calls, surveilled everything he did, including his bedroom, and............

somehow missed his assassin?

Right?

[reflection]

5. If this subject interests you

I would highly recommend the book "Hellhound On His Trail" by Hampton Sides. A great book that tackles the issue of the government's monitoring of King, as well as charting the lines of MLK and JERs movement leading up to the day of the assassination. Fascinating book.

[Glitterati]

6. Thanks, I'll grab the book

sounds like a great read.

[reflection]

7. Amazon has them for pennies used

Plus shipping of course.

[Glitterati]

8. Trying to get the page up now

Dang! Google analytics is really screwing with the web today.

[Supersedeas]

9. and now who is the watcher...and the watched

[Glitterati]

10. Exactly

and they STILL missed the Boston Marathon Bombers.

Why is it that these agencies fail so spectacularly and we can do NOTHING about it?

[raccoon]

12. And those agencies missed 9/11. How did they fail so spectacularly then? nt

[Jerry442]

14. Yes, isn't it curious that those agencies can't seem to thwart those attacks that...

...when they happen, make those same agencies thrive and grow.

Strange, isn't it.

[deutsey]

11. They even tried to blackmail him into killing himself

When he didn't, I think they decided to help him out.

[NBachers]

13. Plan B

[JustAnotherGen]

16. +1

It wasn't a failure of the apparatus - it was a success.

[madrchsod]

15. he is a prophet...

[think_critically]

17. I have a dream was not even his greatest speech imo

The governments hate for him really took off in 1967 when he made one of the most courageous and spirited speeches
of the 20th century imo. He essentially laid out in plain terms how our country was on the path to destruction b/c of racism,militarism, and poverty and showed how the Vietnam War was emblematic of this. Check out the speech here

. This is probably what got him killed.

[Cha]

18. MLK was a danger to those who thought Black People shouldn't

have the same rights as whites. Thank Goodness his Dream lived on in spite of them trying to kill it with him.





http://theobamadiary.com/2013/08/29/rise-and-shine-596/