Dr. Martin Luther King’s death — 45th anniversary
Below this post is an article about How the government killed Dr. Martin Luther King.
The more important question is Why did the government kill Dr. Martin Luther King?
The evidence is clear. If King had stayed to narrow issues of integration, the system reluctantly could have absorbed it. But King connected the issues of racism in the U.S. with opposing the war in Indochina. King became one of the leading voices opposing the war, calling the U.S. “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” His famous speech “Beyond Vietnam” delivered a year to the day of his death on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in NY city is important reading. That speech likely sealed his death. In addition, when King was killed he was mobilizing for a massive poor peoples march on Washington, D.C. for the summer of 1968. King was pushing for economic justice and his intent was not to go to DC and give another “I Have a Dream” speech and go home as he did in 1963. This time he planned on staying, and massive non-violent civil disobedience was planned to shut down Washington if necessary. Such action, the system could not absorb. And the system decided King had to go. King had the capacity to mobilize millions of people in non-violent action to fundamentally change the war, economic and social system, and people in power knew it and had King killed. I would suggest as further reading the book entitled “An Act of State” by the King family lawyer, William Pepper.We all need to pick up the torch for justice and peace that Dr. Martin Luther King carried for all of us.
Jim Albertini, April 4, 2013
