President Barack Obama Dedicates Martin Luthur King Jr. Memorial

[bigtree]

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((AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama saluted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday as a man who "stirred our conscience" and made the Union "more perfect," rejoicing in the dedication of a monument memorializing the slain civil rights leader's life and work.

"He had faith in us," said Obama, who was 6 when King was assassinated in 1968. Obama told the crowd, "And that is why he belongs on this Mall: Because he saw what we might become."

"Let us draw strength from those earlier struggles," Obama said. "Change has never been simple or without controversy."

read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/16/obama-mlk-memorial-dedication-speech_n_1014055.html


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(REUTERS/Molly Riley)

Standing in front of the words “A stone of hope” chiseled on a portion of the memorial, Obama emphasized that change doesn’t happen overnight. "Nearly 50 years after the March on Washington, our work, Dr. King's work is not yet complete. We gather here in a time of great challenge and great change," he said.

“His life, his story tells us that change can come if you don’t give up, he would not give up no matter how long it took because in the smallest hamlets and darkest slums he had witnessed the highest reaches of the human spirit, because in those moments when the struggle seemed most hopeless, he had seen men and women and children conquer their fears,” Obama said.

The president seemed to choke up as he continued, “we are here today in a country that dedicated a monument to that legacy so with our eyes on the horizon and our face squarely placed … let us keep striving, let us keep striving, let us keep climbing for that promised land of a nation that is more fair and more just and more equal for every single child of God.”

read: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/187805-obama-dedicates-mlk-memorial-says-dr-kings-work-is-not-yet-complete


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(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

"It was that insistence, that belief that God resides in each of us, for the high to the low, in the oppressor and the oppressed, that convinced him that people and systems could change. It fortified his belief in non-violence. It permitted him to place his faith in a government that had fallen short of its ideals," the president said.

"It led him to see his charge not only as freeing black America from the shackles of discrimination, but also freeing many Americans from their own prejudices, and freeing Americans of every colour from the depredations of poverty," he added.

“That is why Dr. King was so quintessentially American because for all the hardships we’ve endured … ours is a story of optimism and achievement and constant striving that is unique upon this earth,” Obama said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/10/16/king-monument-dedication.html


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(Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Progress, he said, can often be a slow and painful process. During the civil rights movement, "progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses. It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats." Every victory was met with setbacks and defeat, Obama said. Today's America can draw strength from that struggle, from King's belief that we are one people and from his refusal to give up, the president said.

"Let us not be trapped by what is," Obama said. "We can't be discouraged by what is. We've got to keep pushing for what ought to be."

He noted that King "will stand for all time, among monuments to those who fathered this nation and those who defended it. A black preacher, no official rank or title, somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideas."

"I know we will overcome," the president said. "I know there are better days ahead. I know this because of the man towering over us."

read: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/16/us/mlk-memorial/

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((AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

[Scurrilous]

1. Thanks.

K & R :thumbsup:

[malaise]

2. Watched live

Lovely ceremony

[fasttense]

3. That is the worst monuments to MLK I have ever seen.

Every time I see it, I cringe.

To know it was made with Chinese materials with slave labor (oh right they got paid when they went back to China), to know MLK was assassinated while helping unions, is to know what a giant hypocrisy the statue really is.

[bigtree]

6. I doubt most folks who visit are dwelling on all of that

[zalinda]

12. Right, MLK would certainly be okay with outsourcing. n/t

[bigtree]

13. It's a monument that millions of Americans will draw inspiration from

. . . despite the efforts of a few folks who will be intent on distracting from that.

[zalinda]

15. What he stood for is important and

to outsource his memorial is really gross, it is NOT what he stood for, and he would be the first one to say so. That 100 million or so would have given quite a few people jobs here in the states, plus they would have spread it around in American businesses. And, it would have elevated an AMERICAN artist to important status.

I cannot celebrate a CHINESE made statue. First a bridge, and now a memorial, what else will this country outsource?

zalinda

[bigtree]

16. I don't think visitors will be celebrating

. . . the statue.

[AngkorWot]

17. Good for you.

If there's one thing MLK stood for, it's sinophobia.

[zalinda]

24. So you think it is okay for the US to give MORE

money to China? You think it okay that so many people are out of work because jobs got shipped over there? I would be just as angry if a Canadian artist constructed the monument. People are dying, and more will be dying as winter comes in, because they are living in the streets, because they don't have jobs. Do you think that is okay?

How many people have to die before people get it? This people in this country are in trouble. With 3 more trade agreements, how many more will lose their jobs? How many more will have to live in tents? Or in abandoned buildings? Or just in the street? Just because you sit in your warm comfy room, doesn't mean everyone is.

MLK would be horrified that his monument would take money out America and give it to a country that already has so many of our jobs. When the fear of homelessness finds you, maybe then you will understand. Until then, I doubt you ever will.

zalinda

[AngkorWot]

25. Back in King's day, white people were all upset that black people were taking all there jobs.

The sculptor is a Chinese citizen. He won the international commission on artistic talent alone. He used the local Chinese granite because it's actually legitimately superior to American granite.

I don't see your complaints as anything more than classic, kneejerk, text book definition racism.

[zalinda]

29. Then you haven't been paying attention. n/t

[Number23]

19. You are absolutely FULL of anger

About seemingly EVERYTHING.

[zalinda]

23. Do fucking know what it's like to live in fear constantly?

I do. I am in constant fear of losing the roof over my head. Every month, I have to decide which bills will get paid, and which bills that I can risk getting behind on. I am not the only one in this country that has to live like this.

To sit by and think that giving China 100 MILLION dollars is no big deal, does make me angry. There are people in this country that are barely surviving, but you think it is okay that someone other than an American artist had constructed this memorial? That 100 million dollars would have done a lot of good in THIS country. If it had been made in a small town, that money could have made the difference in closing down a school, or paying the staff at a medical clinic. It could have done more good in this country, because unlike China, our government doesn't subsidize almost every business.

To be so indifferent to what is happening in this country, is one of the reasons that OWS exists. It doesn't affect your life so it's okay with you? It's certainly not okay with me and and wouldn't be with MLK. In fact, he died because it wasn't okay with him.

If you're not angry, you're not paying attention.

zalinda

[Number23]

26. What ON EARTH does "living in fear" have to do with your seeming rage

that the MLK statue was made in China?

What the hell does "fear of losing the roof over your head" have to do with you seething over the statue being made in China? Are you a sculptor? Did you put in a bid for this job and lose it to a Chinese artist? Exactly WHAT is the damn problem?

That $100 million that you are fuming about came mostly from donor money. What in any way makes you qualified to tell people how they can spend their OWN DAMN MONEY, particularly on something as worthwhile as a tribute to Dr. King?

You are angry about EVERYTHING. If you think that your behavior is healthy or indicative of someone with a solid grasp, then YOU are the one that's not paying attention.

[zalinda]

28. Tell me, what country would ever consider hiring a foreign

artist to do a tribute to one of their country's heroes? Absolutely, none. And, especially not China.

The attitude that it's okay that it was done by Chinese workers is the same as the attitude of business men, who moved jobs overseas and outsource jobs. It's quite all right until it happens to them. There is a reason why people are angry, but apparently you just don't get it.

Hey, let's have everything made in China, it's the American way. Who cares any more? Unless it is happening to you, what does it matter?

Believe me, I'm grateful that I still have a roof over my head. I'm better off than some. But, I care about those around me who aren't as lucky. I care that there are no jobs. I care that people have lost their homes, sometimes when it wasn't even their fault. I care that those who are in power, don't care and don't act.

That MLK statue is a symbol of everything that is wrong with this country. It's about those in power, not caring that their actions could help or hurt a community, depending on their actions. It's about those in power thinking with only their wallets. Did they get it cheaper because they got it from China? Did they even bother to check to see if an American artist would meet the price? And to top it off, it looks like Mao, not MLK.

zalinda

[Number23]

30. You could have just saved yourself the time and wrote

"I am pissed off about everything, then, now and forever and truly don't care how unhinged it makes me look."

Your gnashing and wailing over this is so over the top and absurd I don't even think I can properly articulate it. You are simply ridiculous. Join the Peace Corps. Find something REAL to get pissed off over.

[zalinda]

31. I already am, are you?

This is my third year in making mittens and hats for the school district to give to kids who don't have any. I make them with donated yarn and old sweaters. For some of them, it's the only Christmas present they get.

zalinda

[Bobbie Jo]

18. + 1

Every time.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. K&R

:kick:

[TahitiNut]

5. It's during events like these that I feel my age.

It's not so much the number of years I've lived as it is which years I've lived ... and how HUGE the stretch over time that's been. I was a young adult going to college in "The Heart Of Dixie" when the March On Washington occurred and Dr. King gave his famous speech. I left the Jim Crow South, transferring to a northern university, the same week as "Mississippi Burning."

I vividly remember Jim Crow. I vividly remember Dr. King and how his speech informed my soul. I vividly remember being annointed a "n______-lover" and how I yearned to join the Freedom Riders. I vividly remember how Dr. King was attacked on all sides ... and I vividly remember his attention to the teachings of Gandhi.

As I see the country today, I'm keenly aware of the enormous change ... yet keenly aware of how far we still have to go.

I'm heartened by the OWS folks. It seems that a healthy social conscience in common tends to skip a generation.

[bigtree]

7. wild, TN

I was just telling my wife how my life seemed to emerge out of the time of the assassination and riots in my early hometown of D.C.. I have to reflect back on my 50 years and marvel at the steady progress away from all of the earlier racism, abuses, and discrimination -- to my children's generation today which is so completely integrated and opportunities for success and acceptability so vast and attainable. I was born in 1960 and I barely felt a ripple of the past in my own life experience (outside of incidental encounters with jerks and idiots). There was some trouble with finding work in the early 80's which seemed to evaporate overnight in just a few short years as a more educated generation of minorities entered a job market hungry for their skills and energy.

The event and speech today were stirring. Another milestone.

[Riftaxe]

8. And they only had to pay $800,000 To MLK's

leeches Family to get permission to use his likeness and speech material in it.

[HipChick]

11. His "I have a Dream speech" is copyrighted...why shouldn't they profit?

Under the applicable copyright laws, the speech will remain under copyright in the United States until 70 years after King's death, thus until 2038.

[Riftaxe]

22. Yes, your right, he probably had profit motive in mind

When he spoke those words in D.C.

Shameless profiteering on history is still pretty damned low.

[bigtree]

27. the copyright is about more than money

It's also about control over usage of the historic speech so it isn't misappropriated or exploited for just anything. It makes sense that the family should benefit. I'm for that.

[bigtree]

9. link to full text and video

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/full-text-president-obamas-speech-at-mlk-memorial/2011/10/16/gIQAkbl3oL_story.html

[HipChick]

10. I attended the Dedication..

People got very emotional...it was very touching...

[bigtree]

14. good for you, HipChick

I can only imagine the depth of feeling some must have felt at dedication of this symbolic milestone.

[Tx4obama]

20. Here's a link that has a link to FIVE pages of photos

of Pres Obama, Obama family, and attendees

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x798922

[Number23]

21. Rec'd despite some thoroughly unnecessary comments within the thread

I didn't like the statue when I first saw it. Now, I think it gives a good reflection of the grace and dignity that he possessed. Qualities that I truly wish were a lot more common.

[Bake]

32. Obama couldn't carry MLK's Bible!

Obama ought to be ashamed! MLK would have spoken out strongly against most of what Obama has done!

Bake

[TwilightGardener]

33. Aw, poop.

[Bake]

34. Wow, that's brilliant.

Were you even on the planet in the 60s? I was. MLK would be marching against Obama and his Wall Street cabinet/cronies.

Bake

[TwilightGardener]

36. Obama is not a civil rights leader. He is a President. There's no point to comparing them.

Two different figures with different jobs. And I don't have a problem with Obama or his cabinet. However, I do find it moving that he is President while this memorial is being dedicated. If you want to shit on that, be my guest, someone always shits on everything.

[Bake]

37. A president isn't a civil rights leader???

My god, that ought to be his/her FIRST job!!!

I guess that's a little too partisan for you!

Bake

[bigtree]

35. I dunno

He had a pretty good relationship with JFK . . . not exactly a liberal or progressive by today's standards.

[Bake]

38. But way more progessive/liberal than our current President

And his Wall Street cabinet.

Bake