"Third Way®" types don't want to discuss the last year of M.L. King, Jr.'s life

[friendly_iconoclast]

They'll praise MLK to the skies in general terms while repeatedly
quoting his speech at the 1963 March on Washington. They'll denounce his asassination.

All these things should be done, and it's good of them to do so-but it's not enough.

Ignoring or eliding the last year of Dr. King's life is to ignore or elide a vital part of the man.
I invite you to read on:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125355148

The Story Of King's 'Beyond Vietnam' Speech

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it.

PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley's new documentary, MLK: A Call to Conscience explores King's speech. The film is the second episode of Tavis Smiley Reports. Smiley spoke with both scholars and friends of King, including Cornel West, Vincent Harding and Susannah Heschel.

By the time King made the "Beyond Vietnam" speech, Smiley tells host Neal Conan, "he had fallen off already the list of most-admired Americans as tallied by Gallup every year." Smiley continues, "it was the most controversial speech he ever gave. It was the speech he labored over the most."

After King delivered the speech, Smiley reports, "168 major newspapers the next day denounced him." Not only that, but then-President Lyndon Johnson disinvited King to the White House. "It basically ruins their relationship," says Smiley. "This was a huge, huge speech," he continues, "that got Martin King in more trouble than anything he had ever seen or done."

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/publications/autobiography-martin-luther-king-jr-contents/chapter-31-poor-peoples

From "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.":

Chapter 31: The Poor People's Campaign

We have moved into an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society. We are still called upon to give aid to the beggar who finds himself in misery and agony on life's highway. But one day, we must ask the question of whether an edifice which produces beggars must not be restructured and refurbished. That is where we are now.

...We intended to channel the smouldering rage and frustration of Negro people into an effective, militant, and nonviolent movement of massive proportions in Washington and other areas. Similarly, we would be calling on the swelling masses of young people in this country who were disenchanted with this materialistic society and asking them to join us in our new Washington movement. We also looked for participation by representatives of the millions of non Negro poor-Indians, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Appalachians, and others. And we welcomed assistance from all Americans of goodwill.

From a sermon in Memphis, during a sanitation worker's strike:

You know Jesus reminded us in a magnificent parable one day that a man went to hell because he didn't see the poor. His name was Dives. And there was a man by the name of Lazarus who came daily to his gate in need of the basic necessities of life and Dives didn't do anything about it. And he ended up going to hell. There is nothing in that parable which says that Dives went to hell because he was rich. Jesus never made a universal indictment against all wealth. It is true that one day a rich young ruler came to Him talking about eternal life and he advised him to sell all, but in that instance Jesus was prescribing individual surgery, not setting forth a universal diagnosis. If you will go on and read that parable in all of its dimensions and its symbolism you will remember that a conversation took place between heaven and hell. And on the other end of that long distance call between heaven and hell was Abraham in heaven talking to Dives in hell. It wasn't a millionaire in hell talking with a poor man in heaven, it was a little millionaire in hell talking with a multimillionaire in heaven. Dives didn't go to hell because he was rich. His wealth was his opportunity to bridge the gulf that separated him from his brother Lazarus. Dives went to hell because he allowed Lazarus to become invisible. Dives went to hell because he allowed the means by which he lived to outdistance the ends for which he lived. Dives went to hell because he sought to be a conscientious objector in the war against poverty.

And I come by here to say that America too is going to hell if she doesn't use her wealth. If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God's children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to hell. I will hear America through her historians, years and generations to come, saying, "We built gigantic buildings to kiss the skies. We built gargantuan bridges to span the seas. Through our space ships we were able to carve highways through the stratosphere. Through our submarines we were able to penetrate oceanic depths." It seems that I can hear the God of the universe saying, "Even though you have done all of that, I was hungry and you fed me not. I was naked and you clothed me not. The children of my sons and daughters were in need of economic security and you didn't provide it for them. And so you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness." This may well be the indictment on America. And that same voice says in Memphis to the mayor, to the power structure, "If you do it unto the least of these of my children you do it unto me .

[Agschmid]

1. And which third wayers are you talking about?

[Enthusiast]

20. Third Way is just sucking, in general.

[treestar]

2. What is it we are not wanting to talk about now?

Could you be more succinct?

[Agschmid]

3. I have no idea what is going on...

I read the whole NPR transcript not sure how the third way is playing into this...

[George II]

22. Some people pick an "issue", be it 50 years ago or not, and attach it....

....to a "group" they're not happy with - "Third way democrats" (??), the "oligarchy", "corporate media" (??), whatever.

Just creating an opportunity to sling stuff at those who are not 110% like them.

[villager]

4. Exactly right. Imagining that racial justice and economic justice are "separate" is doing the work..

...of 1%ers, who love seeing those below them self-dividing, and drowning in false dichotomies...

[Agschmid]

5. I don't think that people see them as separate issue...

At least most people I know.

[villager]

6. Other than the people on this board who insist you have to choose one over the other?

[Agschmid]

7. I haven't seen that.

[villager]

9. keep lookin'

n/t

[Agschmid]

11. So you are saying someone here said..

"We either deal with racial justice or social justice, but we certainly cannot tackle them both"?

I doubt any of us feel that way.

[rhett o rick]

26. That is not at all what they said. Here is their quote, "Imagining that racial justice and economic

justice are "separate" is doing the work.. ...of 1%ers," And yes there are some very outspoken posters here that have gotten upset that some are concentrating on economic justice in lieu of social justice. They will not concede that the two are intertwined.

[Agschmid]

28. They are intertwined.

Glad we are on the same page I guess...

[NuclearDem]

13. Found one!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026753773#post4

[hifiguy]

10. It has been constant since Bernie announced

he was entering the race.

[villager]

12. exactly

n/t

[hifiguy]

16. i don't know what is more disgusting,

the intellectual dishonesty of those who make this argument, their disingenuousness of the reasons for their doing so, or that it is straight out of the Atwater/Rove playbook, tactically speaking. But it is all revolting.

[villager]

19. I don't know if they even realize they're doing the work of the late Lee Atwater, but they've so

...internalized all these talking points, after years of hearing how "fringe" formerly centrist/mainstream Democratic policies have now become, that it seems they can't help themselves.

[hifiguy]

21. Yep.

Bernie sounds just like Hubert Humphrey, the Kennedy brothers and every pre-Jimmy Carter Democrat. As much as I respect Carter's post-presidential life and work, he was the first Dem to go down the path of deregulation and disaster.

[gollygee]

15. I think you're confused about what people are saying

People are saying that it is possible to fight for economic justce, and make huge strides, but never get to social justice, and to leave people of color, LGBT people, women, etc. behind. That economic justice doesn't automatically lead to social justice.

I haven't seen anyone, not even very outspoken Clinton supporters, say that economic justice isn't also important. In fact I haven't seen anyone say it isn't just as important. Just that one will not automatically lead to the other.

I think people are at least to some extent talking past each other if you think anyone has said this.

[MohRokTah]

17. .

[FlatBaroque]

18. How does one make the

Registered turdmark symbol?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. I looked for it on the Character Map....

Always thought these should be combined: ¤Ω

☺

[stonecutter357]

24. I'm against a tax on retirement funds

[F4lconF16]

25. Neither do more liberal democrats, for the most part. nt

[raindaddy]

27. They don't mention FDR either...

Because they'd be hypocrites if they did.

[G_j]

29. Thank you

I didn't see your thread, and posted a similar one.
It bothers me how some have their hair on fire about social vs. economic justice and say nothing about the destruction militarism has caused to the fabric of our society.