In Honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

Yesterday we celebrated the life of the great Martin Luther King Jr.

In continuation of this celebration, we would like to share one of our favorite speeches by him.  This would also be an ideal time to inform you (if you did not already know) that his wife, Coretta Scott King, was vegan and an animal rights activist!

LOOKING BEYOND MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.’s “I Have a Dream” SPEECH: These two videos express the variety of political, social, economic and multicultural issues Martin Luther King Jr. was involved in.

FIRST VIDEO – Martin Luther King Jr.: “The Other America”
From what I can tell, we still need to pick up where Martin Luther King Jr. left off. As he states in this speech given in year 1967 – it is now time to struggle “for genuine equality.” He says they accomplished the integration of lunch counters, public buses, and public parks as well as the right to vote. However, he states now it is time to fight for livable wages, sanitary decent housing conditions, quality public education, and fair administration of justice for all people in America. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOWDtDUKz-U

SECOND VIDEO – Historian Gordon K. Mantler
The historian Gordon K. Mantler wrote about Martin Luther King Jr’s Minority Group Conference held the following year in March 1968. It was the largest multicultural integration of minds ever seen. “Some of the most important leaders of the Chicano Movement were present.” Also present were environmental activist coal miners of Atlanta, and religious representatives (including Quaker, Jewish, and Roman Catholic organization representatives), First Nations of Abya Yala (formerly known as Native-Americans), labor groups, and student groups. They issued a 53 page pamphlet of demands to every U.S. agency, Congress and the White House. The demands included livable wages, citizen and police review boards concerning police brutality, amongst other important concerns. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 3 weeks later.

His next step, his next goal was clear – genuine social equality and financial security for all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi_RS5e2_yU