A few random thoughts on Martin Luther King Day, observed this past Monday.
As I was watching the Golden Globes on Sunday, I couldn't help but notice a number of Sears ads for the big MLK sale on Monday. Now that's acceptance. Never mind what Martin Luther King said or fought for, once your name/cause can be ignored or better yet linked to retail sales, you are a true American. Will his holiday soon be synonymous with the President Day sales in February. ( Who were those two guys again?) Whether it's civil rights, founding fathers, great emancipators or pink ribbon breast cancer, let's boost the sales economy!
I did hear a very interesting program on NPR on what is arguably one of the greatest speeches in history, the famous "I have a dream" speech. As a former Toastmaster, I was surprised to learn that Dr King veered from the written version of his speech, originally entitled "Normalcy - Never Again" to deliver the now famous ending. As he was speaking, he was gauging the reaction of the audience and he knew his speech as written was inadequate. Mahalia Jackson, shouted from the crowd, "Tell them about the dream, Martin," referring to a speech he had delivered in Detroit two months earlier and ideas he had been trying out in smaller venues. As a preacher first, he knew the power of a good sermon and he was always honing his craft. I actually listened to the full 17 minute speech (the luxury of retirement), although it's the last 5 minutes when he improvises on the dream message. If you're interested, here's an illegal copy on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs
(Listen to it immediately because apparently the muddle of copyright law applied to the Internet and the new SOPA - Stop Online Piracy Act have caused free copies of the speech to disappear from the Internet. Not sure how this version survived on YouTube.)
My third observation: I'm reading the book: "Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with JFK," her series of interviews with Arthur Schlesinger, four months after the assassination. Only two pages are devoted to MLK and Jackie describes him as a "tricky person" and relates what a "phony" she thought he was, after JFK told her that the FBI's wiretaps and room buggings had revealed a whole lot of partying going on after the Freedom March. A bit ironic, wouldn't you say, in light of the president's own reputation for frequent extramarital affairs, but the conversations don't address that point.
A footnote from Schlesinger acknowledges that Jackie was still "bristling at King" after learning from Robert Kennedy that MLK had made disparaging remarks about the president's funeral, including that presiding Cardinal Cushing was a bit tipsy.
From the point of view of King and the other civil rights leaders, John and Robert Kennedy were publicly supported but privately criticized, as overly cautious and slow in pushing for desegregation in the South. Vice President LBJ gave a speech at the 100th anniversary of Gettysburg in May of 1963 (2 months before the Freedom March) that was critical of the slow progress of the government. JFK responded the following month with a more forceful TV speech characterizing civil rights as a "moral issue."
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