November 10th, 2016
Memories of a Hero (15th Edition: MLK) NOVEMBER, 10th 2016
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November 10th, 2016
Memories of a Hero (15th Edition: MLK)
Martin Luther King: A man “as good as anyone” Dr. King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta. He attended Booker T. Washington High School and because of being so smart, he was able to skip two grades. He started studying at college at the age of fifteen and got a divinity degree from Crozer Seminary and got a doctor’s degree in Theology at Boston University. His name used to be Michael - after his father - but it was changed after a religious conference in Berlin in 1934 in tribute to reformer Martin Luther. King’s opposition to racial segregation and discrimination was very much influenced by his father and his mother had always told him he was as good as anyone, even though his surrounding wanted him to feel inferior. This idea of being as good as anyone was probably the one that encouraged him through all his life to follow and build his dream of making the black race equal to any other in America and the whole world. He His name was in honor to Martin Luther, Protestant reformer.
was and still is considered one of the most relevant figures regarding the fight for equality.
Some of his most motivational quotes are alive in the memory of all the ones who respect him as the fighter he was until the day of his truly unfair death:
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” ―Martin Luther King Jr. “We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. “Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” ―Martin Luther King Jr. “No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they'd die for.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. 2
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Memories of a Hero (15th Edition: MLK)
The last quote probably would give anyone goosebumps since he actually stuck to those same words, even the day of his death his spirit and courage were both still intact. King had been through many difficulties before reaching his aim, he was repressed, dismissed and even humiliated. He saw many people die for the cause and tried to convince himself to keep on going. There were also people who shared his ideas but did not approve of the methods he implemented but he never gave up and that is one of the most remarkable aspects of his strong personality which made him able to become a leader. Nowadays, the black community owes Martin Luther King the right to vote and also the confidence to believe almost any struggle can lead to success with a lot of effort and sacrifice. King ended up proving the world he was certainly as good as anyone and making all his supporters also believers of the same idea.
By Florencia Ritacco One of Doctor King’s most iconic quotes.
Webpages consulted:
http://www.ducksters.com/biography/martin_luther_king_jr.php http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z86tn39 https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/23924.Martin_Luther_King_ Jr_ http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/mlk/section1.rhtml
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Memories of a Hero (15th Edition: MLK)
Short life, Well lived The short life of Martin Luther King was full of great achievements, he seeked to promote racial equality, non-violence to protest, large crowds of followers, and their true belief in the ability of humanity to live in peace. Dr. King is known by African Americans as a civil right leader who had great importance in the 50s and 60s. Their protests and nonviolent marches were finally effective when the law against racial discrimination was adopted. “I look to a day when people will not be judge by the color of their skin, But by the content of their Character.” – Martin Luther King Jr. Some of his main achievements were:
Nonviolent Social Change
With his commitment for peace, non-violence and equality for all helped him to achieve a great progress in American society with its many civil rights protests. King's insistence on nonviolence, which his followers also promoted, was an important factor in the respect and recognition of the civil rights movement despite the brutality of his opponents. All this took place in a time of unrest and instability in the United States.
Montgomery boycott
In Montgomery, Alabama, King led a boycott against some buses that refused to allow blacks to sit in the front seats of the bus. The protest quickly gained currency, and led to a citywide boycott of the bus system until the rules were changed. Ultimately, after King and his followers were sent to jail, the boycott was successful, and the unjust and racist law that allowed board the bus segregation was changed. This was a success for the civil rights movement, and gained national attention.
His famous "I have a dream"
In 1963, King and other leaders of the movement for civil rights groups organized a march for equal rights, in Washington, DC. With a massive crowd of over 200,000 fans, the march was protesting for racial discrimination in employment, racial separatism in schools, and a minimum salary for all workers demanded. It was the biggest gathering in Washington and the place where he heard one of the most famous speeches of King's "I Have a Dream". 4
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Memories of a Hero (15th Edition: MLK)
As a result of the march and speech, citizens of the nation began to put more and more pressure on the presidential administration of John F. Kennedy, urging the president to push for the civil rights laws to pass through the Congress and to be recognized at the National level.
Health workers strike in Memphis
In 1968, 1.300 black sanitation workers in Memphis protested about their poor working conditions, discrimination and low wages. It was obvious they were being discriminated against when they were sent home without pay while white workers stayed on the job. They began a strike on February 12, 1968. Martin Luther King went to Memphis to speak and support the second march of sanitation workers. The strike lasted 64 days and became one of the most important civil rights events. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and sanitation workers demanded the end of discrimination, higher wages, and union recognition. This attracted national media, as well as more people joined the cause, community leaders and clergy. However, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was killed by a white segregationist. During his lifetime Martin Luther King was an innate leader of civil rights. All his life he pursued equality of races, active and peaceful struggle, and he always kept hopes that one day we could all reach a peaceful life. In his short life he had many achievements, and all of them he got it with sacrifice, effort and never gaving up on his ideals. His figure should inspire us; young people to fight for what we want no matter what. And to achieve what we propose we have to strive because we can all change the world.
By Santiago Nievas. Webpages consulted:
http://www.swagger.mx/radar/cinco-logros-de-martin-luther-king http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/k/king.htm https://www.canva.com/design/DACDyE2vffM/KLWlZsEvoo4fLgYo_GFV fg/edit?layouts=&utm_source=onboarding
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Memories of a Hero (15th Edition: MLK)
Luther King´s ideas reflected on today´s ideals Martin Luther King: his last day. Everything started when black sanitary public works employees (in Memphis, Tennessee) who had been on strike since March 12th (1968) were demanding higher wages and better treatment at work. The differences and advantages for white people working at the same employment were notorious. White people were paid more than the black ones and they were not satisfied with this injustice. In the meanwhile of the pacific protests, one day a violence wave exploded and a young African American guy died. After this, Martin Luther King decided to go there to support the workers, their petitions and to give a public speech for them because the situation couldn´t be handled anymore. At the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee, he did his first speech dedicated to them on the 3rd of April. Once the speech began, he started talking about how people told him to take care of himself and other ones who were trying to attack on him. He knew that he was involved in a big change and that he was the only one who could make a miracle happen for the rights of his brothers. He continue saying that he didn´t care about longevity at all and his only dream was to accomplish the fate of God. This speech was called “I have been to the Maintop”: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oehry1JC9Rk He booked a dorm at the Lorrain Motel to stay there for a few days and decided to give another speech at the balcony on the afternoon of April 5th. Just after 6 p.m. King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Motel, where he and associates were staying, when a sniper’s bullet of a Caliber 38 struck him in the neck. He 6
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was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later at the St. Joseph's Hospital. Martin Luther King was only 39 years old. The assassin was a white segregationist man, James Earl Ray, who was approached by the police at the London’s Heathrow Airport after months of searching him in different countries and in whereabouts. “Witnesses had seen him running from a boarding house near the Lorraine Motel carrying a bundle; prosecutors said he fired the fatal bullet from a bathroom in that building. Authorities found Ray’s fingerprints on the rifle used to kill King, a scope and a pair of binoculars.” – History Channel Webpage (http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jrassassination) The murder profile Apparently, James Earl Ray had been gathering information from newspapers and news to know where King was. He changed his name to John Willard to book a room in front of the Lorraine Motel at the Bessie Brewer’s. After shooting King from the public bathroom of that place, while listening to the radio and news, he escaped with his Ford Mustang car just at the same moment in which the police appeared. Ray was found guilty at the court and he was sentenced to 99 years in prison. But, why he decided to kill Martin Luther King? No testimony was heard in his trial. However, Ray confessed that he killed Martin Luther King to become famous. He said that he has left his fingerprints in the weapon in purpose because he was convinced that the police wasn´t going to catch him. Then, after this confession, he revealed to have been victim of conspiracy and that he wasn´t the person who had shot King to death but this theory has never been confirmed. James Earl Ray had previously robed in different places and has left the military service because of his alcoholic habits. With his racist ideas and opposition to the authorities it has been said that in 1968 he began to plan the murder. In 1998, the year in which Ray died, King’s widow Coretta Scott King publicly lamented that “America will never have the benefit of Mr. Ray’s trial, which would have produced new revelations about the assassination…as well as establish the facts concerning Mr. Ray’s innocence.” People and authorities reaction to one of the most important deaths in the history of the United States After the assassination of Martin Luther King, the country was in chaos. A big wave of racial riots happened in more than 100 cities of the United States (especially in Washington D.C., Baltimore, Louisville, Kansas City and Chicago) thousands of people died. Lots of places and buildings were destroyed by the people. The National Guard had to intervene to calm down people.
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Memories of a Hero (15th Edition: MLK)
President Johnson decrees a national mourning in honor to Martin Luther King´s death. This is one of the most important days in the United States history, since it was the first time that an African-American man had a national mourning. Approximately, 300.000 people attended to Martin Luther King´s funeral and the vice-president Hubert Humphrey went there since President Johnson couldn´t go for being at that moment in a reunion to talk about the war in Vietnam. It is said that Johnson didn´t wanted to go since he was afraid of pacifistic movements that could appear if he was there. Even if the president wasn´t there, the people reacted in a violent way and 46 people died. Two months before his dead in April, on the 4th February in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. recorded a petition called ‘‘The Drum Major Instinct’’ from the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Here he told his congregation what he would like said at his funeral: ‘‘I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody’’ Then he explained that he didn´t want the prizes he got (Nobel Prize and other achievements) to be mentioned during the speech on his final day. He wanted to be remembered as a man who ‘‘tried to give his life serving others’’. ‘‘Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter’’ - (King, ‘‘The Drum Major,’’) (http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_drum_ major_instinct_1968.1.html ) From 1957 to 1968 King travelled more than 9, 6 million km., gave public speeches more than 2500 times, was arrested more than 20 times and have been aggressed at least 4 times. His biopsy revealed that he had a heart from a man with 60 years old. This was because leading the civil rights movement wasn´t easy and it was so stressful. After death, civil rights were born: The same year of Martin Luther King assassination, he decided to report he wasn´t going to support President Johnson in the upcoming presidential election. He was disappointed since at first he saw great hope in Johnson’s thoughts but it wasn´t the same in actions. On the 31st March 1968, Johnson shocked the nation by declaring that he would not fight for a reelection, and promised the country that he would spend the remainder of his term seeking ‘‘an honorable peace’’ in Vietnam. Four days later, Martin Luther King´s was murdered and Johnson made a shocking confession: ‘‘I have never felt such sense of powerlessness more acutely than the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed’’. Not more than a week later, Johnson signed the law of the Civil Lyndon Johnson
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Rights Act of 1968. He accomplished one of the biggest King´s dreams. “(…)the bill barred discrimination in federally funded housing and created new penalties for threatening or injuring persons exercising their civil rights(…)” – Martin Luther King Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle Webpage (http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_johnso n_lyndon_baines_1908_1973/ ) In addition, the city of Memphis negotiated with the workers better conditions and this protest had a “happy ending”. Finally, Johnson halted bombing in North Vietnam and pressed for peace talks but he died from a heart attack in 1973 and couldn´t live to see the peace in Vietnam. His ideas in relation with the today His wife, Coretta Scott King, continue his labor as activist for the human rights and in 1968, she founded the “Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change” in Atlanta. She fought for a national holiday in the name of her husband and her dream became true in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan signed the bill. In 1997, she called for a retrial for her husband’s alleged assassin, James Earl Ray. But Ray died in prison before the trial could be effected. Martin Luther King was one of the most important icons in the history of the civil rights and United States. He was involved in preach the peace and convinced that the non-violent actions where worth to accomplish what they wanted. Some of the laws that were possible because of his actions were: “Fair Housing Act of 1968”: This banned housing discrimination for sales or rentals. “Voting Rights Act of 1965”: This act restored and protected the right to vote. It was one of the most important of the decade, and it was one of the most valuable things for him to accomplish. Black people and other races nowadays can vote because of him and they are someone because Martin Luther King fought for them. “Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965” that allowed immigration from groups other than those from the traditional European countries. This is nowadays one of the most important laws in United States after the last presidential elections in the country. With the new president, Donald Trump, we are waiting to see if this law is going to be respected or annulled. Today the Lorraine Motel, the place where Martin Luther King was killed, is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum and is under construction an underway on a permanent memorial to King, to be located on the Mall in 9
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Washington, D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial–the site of King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington in 1963.
By Candela Zárate Webpages consulted:
http://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/martin-luther-king-progress-civil-rightsmovement.html http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_johnson_lyndon_b aines_1908_1973/ http://historiausa.about.com/od/Mov.Der.Civ./a/El-Asesino-De-Martin-Luther-King.htm
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Letter to the Editor: MoaH Magazine, I am writing with regard to the article published on your magazine about the influence of the movements which have supported Civil Rights through America’s History on today’s everyday life. To begin with, I would like to say that I agree with the author’s point because I can see how discrimination is still present in everyday life despite having tried to build an idea of equality. An example of this idea is the recent victory of Donald Trump. Trump presented himself as a candidate who openly exhibited and promoted discrimination not only to people who are not purely Caucasian but also to women tagging them as inferior. One of the projects he announced to be planning was building a wall which would separate Mexico from the United States because he believes it would make a significant decrease of crime. This is certainly an indirect way of saying Mexicans have brought crime to our country, which is completely untrue since Mexicans are one of the most sacrificed and hardworking communities I’ve ever seen. Trump himself demonstrates us he is a criminal by admitting he does not pay taxes, so it is extremely contradictory for him to disqualify this – according to his POV – “criminal race”. Anyway, I’m honestly terrified and curious about the future of the US. I hope Trump’s polemic speeches are nothing but a way of making himself a controversial topic. My prayers are with all the Americans and Latin American countries. Let’s wish together for the best to come. John Bates
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Memories of a Hero Mag, According to one of the articles from the latest number of this magazine, there is a large number of immigrants who have built up their identity as 10
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Memories of a Hero (15th Edition: MLK)
Americans in the US, this is the reason why I’m really happy with the results of the elections because I’ve always believed Trump would make an excellent president making the US a country as great as it had been before it was invaded by this huge wave of Latins who do no good to the nation. Sam Thompson
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------My name is Lorenzo Sánchez and I’m writing to your magazine to express how concerned I feel about the current situation in the US. I've lived in this country since the age of 5 - now I'm 30 - and I've never felt as scared as I do at this very moment. I consider myself an honest man; I earn my living by working from 7am to 8pm from Monday to Friday and have an excellent relationship with my boss - a Native American. I've never considered moving anywhere until I heard Trump had won the elections, I fear not just for my future but also my wife's and children's. I really hope things do not turn up to be as they looked like in Donald Trump's politic campaign. Greetings from a worried Mexican. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time to play! Find the words related to Martin Luther King in the articles:
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Some Racial/Social Statistics: In the United States
http://ijr.com/2014/04/133024-10charts-show-racist-america-really/
“Hate groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan or the Aryan Nations, are extremist networks very often motivated by race. White supremacy is at the root of many of these groups, which have not atomized since the civil rights era, when racial segregation ended. In fact, a lot of hate groups are alive and well today, as evidenced by the fact their presence can be found all 50 states.” – (More info: https://mic.com/articles/140107/racism-in-americatoday-is-alive-and-well-and-these-stats-prove-it#.buK6grh2H )
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Memories of a Hero (15th Edition: MLK)
Some Racial/Social Statistics: Internationally What this looks like in a worldwide perspective:
(Statistics from 2013) America is very tolerant in a global perspective despite the racists’ problems in United States during King´s years. It looks like his actions really had a very important role in the change of mentality of the people. Even though, there is still lots of people who are not tolerant but in comparison to 1960 is too much better.
What is interesting is that around 2004, Asians became less likely to be unemployed than whites. Another thing is that the rate maintains the same distance or even widens, despite public attitudes and racially significant behavior - suggesting exogenous variables and not public attitudes is playing a role.
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