40 Years Ago Today

Today is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, TN. Let's have a brief moment of silence.


Okay, now let's talk about the state of things since King was murdered. As we view much of the news today there will inevitably be at least one story on this topic. Usually commenting briefly on his civil rights activism and try to paint how far we've come without having to really say anything (something the corporate owned media likes to do). However, while things have progressed somewhat (institutionalized segregation is largely a thing of the past for example) there's still a long way to go and some people trying to turn back the clock. IN an election year the fact that the Kasas GOP was caught with a caging list of voters they're going to challenge is one example (such lists are usually used to target African American voters) shows that we still have a long way to go.

As for remembering Dr. King himself, the mainstream media always seems to want to keep him frozen in 1963 with the I Have A Dream speech. While it's a great speech to hear, they tend to forget that when King took on the Vietnam War much of the same media went out of their way to attack him, claiming he was no longer relevant to his cause (look up the criticism King got to Beyond Vietnam for examples). So, on the 40th anniversary of this tragic day, let's keep what Dr. King fought for in our thoughts and try to make this world a little better than it is now. I have a strange feeling that's how he'd really like to be remembered.