Martin Luther King: Waiting on His Dream

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode, the hosts discuss why Martin Luther King should not be limited by a selection of words from the “I Have a Dream” speech delivered in 1963, and how he pointed out the failings of America,  confronted those in power, and challenged them to make that dream a reality. 

A FEW KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• If you look at the “I Have a Dream “speech, and you don’t look at that one line, but you look at what he said about the state of Black America and how black Americans were shackled in their own country, then you get a better sense of how he was confronting America and his treatment of a large segment of the population.

• A great starting point to understand that when Martin Luther King Jr. says non-violent, he’s confronting a system of American apartheid that is making second-class citizens.

• America’s a violent nation. It was born of violence. It was maintained by violence in the form of a civil war, and it’s held together through violence. Martin Luther King was a revolutionary and his revolution wasn’t premised on having more guns.

To download the transcript, CLICK HERE

LINKS IN THIS EPISODE

MLK NBC Interview 11 months before his assassination

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xsbt3a7K-8

Letter From Birmingham Jail

https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

Homestead Act of 1862

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/civil_war/Homestead_Act.htm#:~:text=To%20help%20develop%20the%20American,western%20land%20to%20individual%20settlers

https://www.aaihs.org/race-reconstruction/#:~:text=Since%20the%20Homestead%20Act%20was,and%20immigrant%20%E2%80%93%20profited%20from%20it.

I Have A Dream Speech Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs

I Have A Dream Speech Transcript

https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety

Frontline Transcript February 10, 1998

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/script.html

Washington Post Story on passage of King Day

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/articles/solemn_senate_votes_for_national_holiday.html

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