Black religious leaders gather at Capitol on anniversary of MLK assassination

[struggle4progress]

Posted by: Rose French
Updated: April 4, 2013 - 10:05 AM

Close to 200 black clergy and religious leaders plan to gather Thursday for a rally at the Capitol in recognition of the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King ...

The religious faithful want to urge “public leaders to work together to create new opportunities. They will challenge them to eliminate inequities through real structural reform and repair the harm that has been done in the past,” according to a released statement from ISAIAH.

http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/201447541.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Martin Luther King's Final Speech

By The Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr.
MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 3, 1968

... if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" ... I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy" ...

... whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery ...

It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here! It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preacher must talk about the new New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do ...

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus, and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters of life. At points he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew and throw him off base .... Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves ...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/martin-luther-kings-final-speech-ive-mountaintop-full/story?id=18872817&page=5

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/martin-luther-kings-final-speech-ive-mountaintop-full/story?id=18872817