In these Troubled Times We Need to Remember Martin Luther King, Now More Than Ever: Here are 2 Rare Speeches

Today we celebrate what would’ve been Martin Luther King’s 81st birthday. In doing this we take time out to reflect on his life and the words he delivered on the issues of peace and social justice.

This year I wanted to put forth one of my favorite speeches by Dr. King called ‘Entrance into the Civil Rights Movement... It’s an important speech in the sense that it highlights what was at the core of King’s essence - his relationship to God and his ability to call upon the Holy Spirit. It’s a very moving speech where he outlines the challenges he was facing as a leader and how he had to look deep inside himself in order to move forward. 

Click to hear King's speech.

As we celebrate, I am also including a YouTube video I put together called MLK vs the Radio... This contains portions of the speech that King gave in August 1967 to a group of Black radio broadcasters. It’s an incredible piece where he talks about the responsibility and important role Black radio played in furthering the Civil Rights Movement. I wanted to reintroduce this speech because many of us are still reeling from the verbal assaults that have been occuring on radio shows, like the ones hosted by blowhards like Rush Limbaugh, who recently made disparaging remarks about 50 thousand Haitans who died in this weeks earthquake... I want people to peep this video and ask yourself if media is doing right by you... This piece also includes the voices of activist Rosa Clemente, Minister Farrakhan, H Rap Brown and Chuck D of Public Enemy…

-Davey D-

Below is a quick bio from Wikipedia.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon: King is recognized as a martyr by two Christian churches.^[1] A Baptist minister,^[2] King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.

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