Death of Doctor King 4o years ago today

This man has been my hero all my life. I remember as a kid getting picked on because I was a white kid who talked about MLK. Few years back I marched in a MLK parade and was one of a handful of white people that was not in a political position. I had a black gentlemen ask why I was there...

I read a lot about MLK through the years. I discovered towards the end of his life, he pushed other social justice issues like Antiwar, poverty, and women rights. Many whites and blacks told him to keep to his "black agenda".

I read a book titled "Where Do We Go from Here" and this statement haunts me, because it can fit today:

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." Martin Luther King Jr.

I read on MSN that King was working on a sermon the day he was killed. I don't think much of the sermon was documented. But, here is a portion found:

"If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty, to make it possible for all of God's children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to Hell"

As the MSN story mentions, it sounds like a few comments Dr. Wright has made.

I listened to the clips shown on TV and also did my own research online.
I don't think I like how he presented some of his comments, but the content had meaning & merit for the audience.

Recently, there has been conversation and I am glad because I thought I was the only white person that did not want to kick Dr. Wright and Obama out of the country.

Somewhat related, I got an email from Sojourners Magazine that was interesting, it is posted below:

"Forty years later, and the media is still re-hashing racial fears and polarization.
Tell them to live up to King's dream.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. - a tragic end to a life spent moving the nation towards racial justice and reconciliation. But in the last few weeks, instead of building on his legacy, the news media have been in a feeding frenzy that plays on our worst fears and demeans the prophetic tradition of the black church.

Tell the television networks to honor King's legacy by covering racial issues in a way worthy of his dream.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright has preached for more than 3,000 hours in the course of his career, but the cable news networks have used a handful of 30-second clips, often taken completely out of context, to exploit racial fears.

Fox News has set the tone for much of this coverage. Even after Barack Obama rejected Rev. Wright's most incendiary comments, on-air host Sean Hannity asked whether Obama's candidacy was "dangerous for this country," saying, "if he agreed with Wright, and I don't know that he does, but if he did, that would mean a racist and an anti-Semite would be president of the United States."

Martin Luther King Jr. didn't endorse political candidates (and neither does Sojourners), but he knew something about attracting controversy from the pulpit. In fact, the week before his death, he was planning a sermon for that Sunday titled "Why America May Go to Hell."

But when King spoke difficult truths, he did so in the pursuit of what he called "the beloved community," believing the nation could overcome racial divisions not by ignoring them, but by coming together in the spirit of nonviolence to pursue the common good.

Click here to tell the media to use this anniversary for racial dialogue and reconciliation, not fear and division.

And please join us in praying that we all might have the courage to continue in King's mission to "redeem the soul of America."