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MARTIN'S SECOND MARTYRDOM<br>
============================<br>
[Col. Writ. 1/7/07] Copyright 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal<br><br>
<br>
Soon, every TV station and network, and many of the nation's radio
stations, will air stock film footage (or tape) of Martin Luther King,
Jr., his handsome dark face shining in a sea of dark faces, captured in
his moment of triumph: the "I Have a Dream" speech in
Washington.<br><br>
They will gladly air this 'safe' Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who
spoke loftily and eloquently of dreams.<br><br>
Few will dare air his remarks made at Riverside Church in New York City,
where an older, wiser Martin spoke, not of dreams but of realities -- of
social, and especially economic injustice -- of rampant American
militarism, and yes -- the nightmare of white racism.<br><br>
One of those with him, who, too, would become a Rev. Dr., was Vincent
Harding, a man who loved Martin, and who knew him as a brother, rather
than an icon.<br><br>
Rev. Dr. Harding, a leading theologian and historian, wanted others to
know the Martin he'd known; so he wrote a book: *Martin Luther King: The
Inconvenient Hero* (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1996 [8th printing]).
As Harding teaches us, King fell into the pit of betrayal, when he took
on the war in Vietnam:<br><br>
".... King was bitterly rebuked for taking on the issue of the
war. <br>
Some called it a diversion from the issue of black rights. Others
feared the terrible rage of [President] Lyndon Johnson who brooked no
opposition (certainly not from black Martin Luther King!) to his
destructive policies.<br><br>
"Some members of King's own Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC) board of directors opposed his role in the antiwar movement,
partly because they had seen the way in which the liberal white allies of
the movement had withdrawn financial support from the radicalized young
people of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), who dared
stand in solidarity with the Vietnamese opponents of America's
intervention ...<br><br>
"In the face of all this, partly because of all this, King
persisted, and the Riverside speech - delivered exactly one year before
his assassination, was the most notable result of his decision.
Immediately the drumbeat of harsh criticism was heightened. It came
from many ... including such black stalwarts as Jackie Robinson, Roy
Wilkins, Whitney Young, and Carl Rowan." [pp. 70-71]<br><br>
Rev. Dr. Harding also recounts how the allegedly 'liberal' *Washington
Post* assailed Rev. Dr. King for daring to oppose the war. The
newspaper editorial called his words "Bitter and damaging
allegations and inferences that he did not and could not
document." In the view of the *Post's* editors, "many who
have listened to him with respect will never again accord him the same
confidence. *He has diminished his usefulness to his cause, to his
country, and to his people.*" [Harding, p. 71]<br><br>
To his credit, Harding explains, King did not heed such criticisms, for
he knew that they were on the side of war and death.<br><br>
Harding writes that King became increasingly radicalized, and emboldened
to speak out against injustice; Riverside was a turning point:<br><br>
"(Who knew that night, April 4, that he had precisely one more year
to live, that the bullet was closing in?) For King saw the larger
context. He had already declared in other places that his
"beloved country" was "engaged in a war that seeks to turn
the clock of history back and perpetuate white colonialism."
Underlying this backwardness, he said, was America's refusal to recognize
that "the evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism
and evils of racism." [p. 101]<br><br>
This ain't the Martin Luther King we see on commercials, nor the ones we
see in newspaper ads around the days of his birth or death.<br><br>
*That* Martin Luther King, anti-war critic, economic justice activist,
advocate for the poor, fellow sufferer of the bombed and oppressed in
Vietnam, a budding socialist (or at least anti-capitalist), had become,
in Harding's words, 'the inconvenient hero.'<br><br>
May we remember who he *really* was.<br><br>
That King has almost vanished from our popular media, white-washed
culture and history.<br><br>
Were it not for folks like Vincent Harding, he might have.<br><br>
<br><br>
Copyright 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal<br><br>
[Mr. Jamal's recent book features a chapter on the<br>
remarkable women who helped build and defend<br>
the Black Panther Party: *WE WANT FREEDOM:<br>
A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from South<br>
End Press
(<a href="http://www.southendpress.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.southendpress.org</a>); Ph.<br>
#1-800-533-8478.]<br>
===============================<br><br>
"When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is<br>
just, yet refuse to defend it--at that moment you begin to die.<br>
And I have never seen so many corpses walking around talking about<br>
justice." - Mumia Abu-Jamal<br><br>
MUMIA'S COLUMNS NEED TO BE PUBLISHED AS BROADLY<br>
AS POSSIBLE TO INSPIRE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT AND<br>
HELP CALL ATTENTION TO HIS CASE.<br><br>
The campaign to kill Mumia is in full swing and we need you to<br>
**please** contact as many publications and information outlets as<br>
you possibly can to run Mumia's commentaries (on-line and<br>
**especially off-line**)!! The only requirements are that you run<br>
them *unedited*, with every word including copyright information<br>
intact, and send a copy of the publication to Mumia and/or ICFFMAJ.<br>
THANK YOU!!!<br><br>
Keep updated by reading ACTION ALERTS!!<br>
at
<a href="http://www.mumia.org/" eudora="autourl">http://www.mumia.org</a>
,
<a href="http://www.onamove.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.onamove.com/</a> and their links.<br>
========================================<br><br>
To download Mp3's of Mumia's commentaries visit<br>
<a href="http://www.prisonradio.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.prisonradio.org</a> or
<a href="http://www.fsrn.org/" eudora="autourl">http://www.fsrn.org<br>
</a>==============================================><br><br>
The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!<br><br>
PLEASE CONTACT:<br>
International Concerned Family & Friends of MAJ<br>
P.O. Box 19709<br>
Philadelphia, PA 19143<br>
Phone - 215-476-8812/ Fax - 215-476-6180<br>
E-mail - icffmaj@aol.com<br>
AND OFFER YOUR SERVICES!<br><br>
Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:<br>
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AM 8335<br>
SCI-Greene<br>
175 Progress Drive<br>
Waynesburg, PA 15370<br><br>
WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CAN *NOT* REST!!<br><br>
Submitted by: Sis. Marpessa<br><br>
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