"Powell spoke in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,’’ as Washington held a series of events to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s march that included his ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech. ‘‘If Dr. King was here, I’m quite sure he would say, ‘Congratulations on all the progress that’s been made, but let’s keep going. The dream is not fully achieved yet,’’’ said Powell, also the first black to serve the nation as secretary of state."
I'm sure Dr. King would have had a lot to say to the general that led two war criminal assaults on Iraq that killed millions and were based on lies.
"Thousands mark Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech; At Washington rally, leaders urge continued fight" by Trip Gabriel | New York Times, August 25, 2013
WASHINGTON — Half a century after the emotional apex of the civil rights movement, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, tens of thousands of people retraced his footsteps Saturday, and his successors in the civil rights movement spoke where he did, in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
The anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington was less a commemoration, speakers proclaimed, than an effort to inject fresh energy into issues of economics and justice that, despite obvious progress in overcoming racial bias, still leave stubborn gaps between white and black Americans.
Gaps which are becoming less because we are all being taken to the cleaners by the money junkies that lead all our institutions.
The speeches took aim at current efforts to restrict voting access, racial profiling by law enforcement, and economic inequality.
Addressing generations too young to remember the civil rights movement but who benefited from it, the Rev. Al Sharpton, an organizer of Saturday’s event, said:
Did the DOJ pay you to be there like they did in sending you down to Florida to raise racial tensions, Al?
Related:
"As the first black president, Obama enjoyed a halo in the media that lasted for most of his first term. When tea parties sprang up in opposition to his policies, the media establishment immediately labeled them racist, in effect enforcing a taboo on criticism of the first black president. But Obama's race-driven immunity is wearing off, and respected and knowledgeable writers are being frank about what a historic disaster Obama has been as president. The low information voters remain blissfully ignorant, of course, lulled into believing Obama is competent and his critics racist."
That's why the White House and mouthpiece media are trying to gin up racial division at every turn.
A lineup of civil rights heroes, current leaders of the movement, labor leaders, and Democratic officials addressed a vast crowd that stretched east from the Lincoln Memorial to the knoll of the Washington Monument — well out of range of the loudspeakers.
Organizers expected 100,000 people on Saturday, fewer than half the number who came in 1963 when efforts to dismantle segregation, often accompanied by shocking violence, seized the national attention.
Sorta says failure, doesn't it?
Speakers included Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who on Thursday sued Texas over a strict voter ID law; Representative John Lewis of Georgia, an organizer of the 1963 march; and Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager shot and killed last year....
That would be the Eric Holder of validating waterboarding fame? Of saying Wall Street banks are too big to jail? Of the Fast and Furious, give guns to the drug cartels fame? The one who spied on reporter's phone records? That Eric Holder?
Related:
George Zimmerman’s wife pleads guilty to perjury
Activists see hope in emotional mock retrial of George Zimmerman
Just keeping Trayvon alive. Never mind all the young black men gunned down every single day by police departments across this country.
Sharpton, who as chief organizer gave himself the role of keynote speaker, seized the opportunity to raise the rhetorical temperature, noting that in past decades when blacks voted for Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Bush, and others, their IDs at the polls had been sufficient. “Why when we get to Obama do we need some special ID?” he said to a roar of approval.
See, it's okay to do that as long a you are not white, conservative, or a Republican.
“When we leave here we’re going to go to those states,” including North Carolina and Texas, he said. “And when they ask us for our voter ID, take out a photo of Medgar Evers.”
Unbelievable.
When they start flinging the dead bodies around you know the cause is lost and they are desperate.
President Obama, who is scheduled to observe the anniversary Wednesday at the Lincoln Memorial, and who was mentioned by many speakers as the fulfillment of King’s dream, was perhaps conspicuous by his absence. Through much of his presidency, Obama has been reluctant to frame issues in specifically racial terms, sometimes to the frustration of civil rights leaders.
While King spoke in August 1963 of his dream that one day his children would be judged by the content of their character, not their color, Obama has turned the focus away from racial tension and discrimination — his election being an obvious refutation — to issues of unequal economic opportunity.
Then why is the AmeriKan media continuing to beat that dead horse?
Lately he has taken to reminding people that the 1963 demonstration, officially the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” was as much about fighting for economic equality.
That's one of the reasons he was killed. It's okay to talk about it and make sterling speeches, but any action is not appreciated by $ome.
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Yeah, turns out a black president can be just as much of a mass murderer as a white guy.
Related: Fresh voices at 50th anniversary of March on D.C.
Looks like the same tired old crowd to me.
"Caribbean parade draws dancers, mayoral hopefuls" by Nikita Lalwani | Globe Correspondent, August 25, 2013
The city’s annual Caribbean Carnival parade, in its 40th run, celebrates the cultures of the Caribbean islands, and many participants wore flags from their native countries. But Saturday, it also offered an opportunity for mayoral hopefuls to meet voters, increase visibility, and show off some dance moves.
See: I Hope Your Happy With This Post About the Boston Mayoral Race
Boston police officers and State Police troopers maintained a heavy and highly visible presence. Several reports emerged throughout the day of shootings and stabbings in neighborhoods around the carnival, though it was not immediately clear if those were linked to the festivities.
Maybe they should have been patrolling the neighborhood instead, although Boston is filled with shootings and stabbings every day. What a shit city.
Related: Police seeking clues in Dorchester attacks
Had nothing to do with the parade.
Past carnivals have seen horrific violence, as in 1993, when seven people were shot and two were run over by a car. In recent years, police have used preemptive sweeps to round up suspected troublemakers and those with outstanding arrest warrants in advance of the carnival, largely preventing such incidents.
Guilty until proven innocent. Welcome to AmeriKa.
This year, however, there were no such preemptive actions before the festival, said police spokeswoman Cheryl Fiundaca.
“Basically, we worked with probation and some of the other agencies to ensure that we had a peaceful festival,” she said.
Just ignore the blood and the dead bodies lying around.
As of late Saturday night, police has arrested six people and issued 48 civil citations related to the festival, Fiundaca said.
On Saturday afternoon, Laniah Jackson, 18, readied herself to join in the procession, swaying her hips to the music. She was dressed as an African warrior princess, she said, with large gold hoop earrings, golden sandals, and a gold necklace. She had attended the carnival since childhood, but this was her first year marching.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “I love the atmosphere and the cultures of all the different islands.”
Nearby, Ymahri Brown, 18, wore a mermaid costume, complete with a blue-green bra, blue fishnet stockings, and body glitter, with a Trinidad and Tobago flag tied to the outfit. This was her 10th year marching in the parade, she said, and for her, it has always meant music, joy, and community....
Related:
"After years of fighting extradition, a man accused of a 2009 triple slaying in Dorchester who had fled to Trinidad has been returned to Boston to face murder charges."
Also see: Man arraigned in Dorchester triple murder
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Can I just say that I am tired of the politically correct diversity being shoved down my throat by a newspaper that is a mouthpiece for the apartheid state of Israel?
"Civil rights focus in US turns to immigration; Many marking anniversary see parallel themes" by Deepti Hajela | Associated Press, August 27, 2013
NEW YORK — The push for comprehensive immigration reform was heard from the speakers’ podium on Saturday, when tens of thousands marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and down the National Mall....
Immigrant advocates came from near and far to be part of the commemoration. They included Casa de Maryland, founded by Central American immigrants in the Washington area in 1985. The organization connected the Rev. King’s famous ‘‘I Have A Dream’’ speech to the dreams of immigrants in the United States illegally who are looking for legal status.
‘‘One of the big reasons immigrant groups wanted to participate was to show the connection,’’ said Shola Ajayi, the group’s advocacy director, who said it had mobilized hundreds of people to attend.
The link between civil rights activism and America’s immigration reality brings history full circle, as the demographic change being seen across the United States owes some of its existence to the decades-ago movement.
What would an agenda-pushing, war-promoting newspaper know about reality?
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 radically altered US immigration policy, opening the country’s doors to the world after decades of keeping them shut to entire geographic regions.
That decision planted the seeds for the demographics explosion the United States is living in now, a shift that historians say happened in part because of a hunger for change and equality created by the civil rights movement.
Yeah, never mind the designed global economy that compelled them to come here.
That movement ‘‘broke through the whole aura of political stagnation that was created by the McCarthy era and the Cold War, and allowed us to imagine another’’ world, said Mark Naison, a professor of African-American studies and history at Fordham University in New York. ‘‘It was the civil rights movement . . . that broke through the logjam and allowed people to talk about real issues in our domestic lives.’’
*********************
While the United States has its roots in being a welcoming place for immigrants, that hasn’t always been the case. As a wave of new arrivals flooded US shores in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, restrictions against those who would be allowed into the country took hold as well.
Gee, that certainly flies in the face of the portrait the politicians are always painting about AmeriKa's past.
Of course, no mention of the Japanese concentration camps during WWII -- or the rejection of Jews during the same time.
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Finally, I can see the finish line:
"Sweeping talk of the gains and distance still to go; President marks anniversary of March on Washington" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, August 28, 2013
WASHINGTON — President Obama, speaking from the hallowed place where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech 50 years ago, called on the nation Wednesday to build upon the accomplishments of racial justice and complete the journey to economic equality.
In some ways, the moment marked a dream fulfilled, with the nation’s first black president embodying how far the country has come. As Obama paused and looked at the masses from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he sought to link the history that he celebrated to the hope that he promised in his presidential campaigns.
“Because they kept marching, America changed,” Obama said of those who fought for civil rights along with King. “Because they marched, the city councils changed, and state legislatures changed, and Congress changed. And yes, eventually the White House changed.”
Pfft!
Then why did Occupy have to be smashed, sir?
And this diversion of concerns into politic$? We've seen what happens there.
But as Obama and a parade of speakers before him made clear, King’s dream remains a work in progress, with voting rights issues again at the forefront and with black Americans facing the same kind of high unemployment rate and other problems that helped spark the march a half a century ago.
Former president Bill Clinton, who spoke before Obama, urged the crowd to fight the gridlock in Washington with actions rather than rhetoric.
“Martin Luther King did not live and die to hear his heirs whine about political gridlock,” Clinton said. “It is time to stop complaining and put our shoulders against the stubborn gates holding the American people back.”
Unreal! Asshole Bill Clinton lecturing you!
Really makes you think, doesn't it?
Clinton and Obama were joined by former president Jimmy Carter and a number of other prominent Democrats. No Republicans delivered remarks, which was variously attributed to GOP members’ declining invitations or not receiving them. Some Republicans did speak at other events associated with the anniversary.
On a cloudy, drizzly day, hawkers set up on street corners, selling T-shirts and handbags with Obama and King on them, with text that read: “I have a dream. That dream has come true.” Streams of people — young and old, black and white — headed to the Mall. Some who were there 50 years ago brought the same signs they had then. The crowd appeared to be number in the tens of thousands.
That's it? Not hundreds of thousands, or a million?
“Today we are freer but less equal,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson said in an interview.
The NSA spying means none of us are free, you controlled opposition tool.
Btw, is that how your looting son was busted?
Jackson said Obama is the crown jewel of the political aspects of King’s dream, but he also called upon the president to do more to help black Americans.
I'm sorry, but I would rather listen to Cornel West, who said in that interview that Dr. King would be in tears today.
“He’s good and will only get better,” Jackson said. “But we need a response to our pain from him. [There are] 2.5 million Americans in prison, half of them African-Americans. Respond to that. These urban ghettos, foreclosed homes, closed schools, closed libraries, closed medical units — we need a response.”
He's more than halfway through his presidency! He's had enough time!
Obama stressed in his speech that much progress has been made, saying that to believe otherwise would tarnish the memory of King and other civil rights workers.
Yup, you can't question received political orthodoxy from Obomber.
This guy is looking more like a dictator every day.
“To dismiss the magnitude of this progress, to suggest as some sometimes do that little has changed — that dishonors the courage and the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years,” he said.
Telling the truth does that?!?!
But while some of the political and legal goals of the civil rights movement may have been realized, Obama said, the goal of economic equality remained elusive....
Related:
The Vanishing Middle Class
The American Dream is Dead
Children of working poor caught in pinch of recession
Did you notice all that talk of differences between the two parties and the economic inequality arguments disappeared after the election -- until Obama needed it as a talking point to divert attention from the numerous scandals enveloping his White House?
Also see:
"The richest Americans got richer during the first two years of the economic recovery while average net worth declined for the other 93 percent of US households"
All Obama has done is make the wealthy even wealthier, and those numbers tell you THERE NEVER WAS a RECOVERY!
A Pew Research Poll released last week found that only 26 percent of African Americans think the situation for blacks is better now than it was five years ago. That is down from 39 percent in 2009, when Obama first took office.
Then you have failed, Mr. President.
The survey, called “King’s Dream Remains an Elusive Goal,” also found that while gaps between whites and blacks have narrowed on measures such as high school completion and life expectancy, on other key indicators they have widened.
Have they?
See: Whites Being Wiped Out
And no one seems to care.
It is every day.
Black men were six times as likely as white men in 2010 to be incarcerated, an increase from 1960, when black men were five times as likely as whites to be in jail.
The rate is zero for looting Wall Street bankers!
Consistently since the 1950s, the unemployment rate has been about double for blacks than it has been for whites.
“As much success President Obama has had as president, the fact remains he is still only one person,” said A.J. Franklin, a Boston College professor who was at the King speech in Washington 50 years ago....
Who is the only person that can order a military assault on Syria, and I'm tired of hearing excuses.
--more--"
Yeah, Dr. King is dancing in that coffin of his. He's doing the twirling twerk at warp speed velocity.
Related:
"As the nation is poised to observe the 50th anniversary next week of the King-led March on Washington, a poll and an accompanying analysis of racial disparities by the Pew Research Center concludes that while five decades’ progress has been palpable on some fronts, King’s goal remains elusive on others."
A modern founding father
That from a guy who advocates a U.S. invasion of Syria.
In march’s aftermath, age-old problems linger
Martin Luther King Jr.’s ongoing American revolution
Economic equality: What the March on Washington didn’t win
50 years later, some dreams realized and others deferred
Brokerage giant settles discrimination lawsuit
Wall Street doesn't care what color you are; they rip off and loot anyone and anybody.
Also see: Catholics For King
I'm one.
"As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they ask -- and rightly so -- what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent."
And so, someone silenced him.
Yes, dear readers, it is I WHO AM LIVING Dr. King's DREAM!
