Some of the seeds from King’s Legacy

Arlington, VA. –Forty Years ago, Dr Martin Luther King Jr was killed (April 4^th 1968) on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee. The most known pictures we know of this American hero’s episode is, as reported by the Boston Metro, quoting Jacqueline Tarry, - the “… topic of racenin general, in terms of nobler ideas of us all holding heads together and living next to each other and being brothers”. We came, forty years later, to just realize that we haven’t fully had an opened conversation about the race, racism, justice and equality in America.

The United States of America has made a few progresses in terms of seeing some of the African-American icons emerge in the political scene. A former Martin Luther King Jr’s close friend and civil rights activist, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. who was the first black man to run for president of the US during the 1984’s Cosby Show’s unveiling what a black family can be to the eyes of America. General Collin Powell becomes the first black US Secretary of state in 2001 while his successor is the first African-American woman Secretary of State, Mrs Condoleezza Rice. In February 2007, Sen. Barack Obama - the only African-American seating US Senator in Congress and the 2^nd only since the reconstruction, announces in Springfield IL his run for the White House.

This is Our Story

This is when my story starts, when my experience with the King’s legacy comes in place. I heard of the MLK’s movement from the school, books, and father’s stories when, in 1960-68, my father was a scholar at the first “All-Black” Howard University in Washington DC. Mr Francois Katunda (my father) was beneficiary, as was the senator’s father Barack Obama Sr, of a scholarship that helped him obtain a degree that cemented his ¼ century-long career in Foreign Service with the US department. The years 1960s were an era that defined the civil rights movement. It was an era of the awakening every where around the world. This fight for Human Rights had inspired later on many charismatic leaders such as the long time African prisoner Nelson Mandela who went from being activist to become president in South Africa, so as the 1989 renowned Chinese Activists from the Tiananmen Place, or the experience of another Intrepid-non-violent African political leader Etienne Tshisekedi resisting the tyrant Gen. Mobutu of DR Congo (Zaire). Martin Luther King Jr. legacy is seen in Europe where Lech Valessa, organized workers and helped liberating Gdansk in Poland. In my father’s native country, an Intelligent and brilliant young leader, Patrice Lumumba, became a model of courage and patriotism in the Congo. Its first prime minister’s life was stopped short (January 1961) by a CIA-led plot, inspired by the East-West Cold War; a spoiler of a young democracy in a 3^rd world country that general-tyrant Mobutu carried on in the heart of Africa for 32 years.

This was an era of commotion and the awakening of the American people, when President John F. Kennedy was killed in November of 1963 in Dallas TX. During the this Vietnam epoch, Dr King while opposing the invasion said: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom." In June 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles CA, only 3 months after the death of Dr King in Tennessee. Was there any “unfinished business” after America missed all these great and valuable leaders? I would think so …

“I have a dream”, deeply rooted in the American Dream…

As the Washington Post columnist E.J Dionne wrote recalling 1968 as “… when liberalism’s moment had ended”. Liberals had been triumphant in the political arena, bringing to the American people the renaissance with the passing of the Civil Rights Act; social plans such as Medicare and Medicaid; government federal programs such as job corps and federal student aids.

The struggle for civil rights and voting rights in America, particularly the leadership that rallied blacks, whites, Jews and many others under Dr King Jr., led the way to inspiring and empowering other leaders and activists in America and around the world. But, the question that many African-Americans ask themselves has been to know why Dr King’s deeds and legacy are still seen as an unfinished business?

Why? Because Forty years later, America has, still undergoing moments of embarrassments such as the 2005 Katrina failed emergency-response and the lacking pre-tragedy preparedness? Why? Because our country still in denial even when in 1999, a NY Police squad while shooting 41 rounds of bullets, killing an African-born immigrant, Amadou Diallo, made many to believe there is still racial profiling. No later than 2007, we witnessed a series of “racial pranks” or “hate crimes” in our schools.

The “Jena Six” case or the hanging of nooses in Louisiana, and later on the New York’s Columbia University campus prove there is still racially-based hatred among people. There is still racial disparity and economic injustice when most banks’ sub-prime loans have been signed on with minorities and low income earners from the black and Latino communities. As a result, their homes are being foreclosed on, which affects other loans, savings and other form of wealth they might have.

Justice linked to Equality brings us to digress on the state of our economy: Last month’s (March 2008) reports from the Labor Department show that 80,000 US jobs were lost while the New York Times/ NBC polls (4/4/08) suggests that 81 % of Americans now believe the country is heading, economically, in the wrong direction. If our government cannot fund schools and properly implement educational programs that will help America’s youth to compete in the global economy’s job market, than job outsourcings, unemployment, and recession will be part of our every day language in the near future.     

2008 election; A 1960s comeback?    

Meantime, 2008 voters are being distracted by a long and unnecessary “Obama-Clinton” electoral fight for the nomination. Clearly, with 1638 pledged delegates versus 1507 for Clinton out of 44 contests, Senator Obama will need only 387 more to close the lead on her with the help of super-delegates. Having won more states (30 vs. 14) with 10 contests remaining, still the Illinois Senator has the best chance to be the democratic nominee. But, Hillary says she can still win, one of the reasons why the Clintons feel that way, is partially, because they believe in the same Dr King’s dream, which applies to the idea of having the first female president of USA. They are hoping for a “possible” political scandal that would come from fiery comments or wrongdoing in the Obama Camp, without a clear argument on how they will make their case to the DNC to win.

John McCain, the Republican presumptive nominee wanted to challenge both democrat candidates in courting the black vote in Memphis, even if it means getting booed for the vote against making MLK’s birthday as a US National Holiday. He slowly understood the meaning of his legacy, he implied in response to the crowd, while he could have not possibly ignored that Dr King had opposed the Vietnam War; fought for human rights such as (torture, physical violations and irrationality in handling wars we had no interests fighting.)

Yet, John McCain still doesn’t understand what Dr King has been deeply fighting for when he called America to focus on domestic issues by ending the war in Vietnam: He (McCain) challenged both candidates’ healthcare plans as “socialized-medicine”; he wants to keep privatized health plans. He remains timid when Clinton and Obama are calling for a more affordable heath care and quality educational plans; He proposes to wait out on the economic threats of an imminent recession, and vowed not to help those citizens affected by predatory lending practices. He has not, as far as his plan informs us, given any promise to help resolve the mortgage meltdown.

Washington DC’s “status quo” and the War

Forty Years after the MLK’s opposition of the Vietnam War, while the Clintons argued he (MLK) was inspiring but it took a Lyndon Johnson to put in actions his dreams for more civil and voting rights … (Which assertions the American people and particularly Obama supporters took offense on), while McCain is trying to pander to black voters, still another invasion: the War in Iraq has been opposed by Americans in most polls (at 60%). Forty years later, only one candidate opposed this war in Iraq since 2002, Senator Barack Obama, while he is now calling for a safer withdrawal, is calling for restoring diplomacy versus pre-emptive military interventions without a clear purpose and a winning strategy.

Speaking of the war that cost us in monies, blood and treasure, Americans are standing up against it, and more and more African-Americans are making it a MUST in order to respond to our common issues: A possibility of establishing a link between the cost of the war and the economic crisis is becoming evident in the opinion of many.

More African-Americans Leaders calling for Unity…

Forty years after Dr King, the Rev Jeremiah Wright’s comments have brought back on the table a debate on race and racism in America; the one that we long ago put on idle mode. With the same intensity as the 1960s media and the mainstream pundits went against Dr. King’s stance on the Vietnam War. Today many have tried to wrap around democratic hopeful Barack Obama, “controversial” words that he did not say, words he vehemently denounced and rejected. “… They twisted some 30 years of some minister’s good deeds to telecast a conflicting 30 seconds-sound bytes”, said in discontent several Trinity United Church of Christ members. Many believe the “Clintons” and the “Republicans” (both representing the Status-Quo in the DC Beltway) are hoping to create a lingering debate in order to reverse, in voters’ minds, a pick between the two democrat candidates as the general elections have clearly predicted an insider (McCain) vs. an outsider (Obama).

I found it curious that a few weeks before King’s anniversary, Senator Obama has been pressured by the same pundits and the media, aligned with the DC insiders’ tactics , to have him explain comments made, not by him nor his political campaign, but by his retired pastor. Completing a Bush 2004 term, Republican-candidates distanced themselves from the real debate on poverty, racism and justice for all in America. On the other hand, on April 4^th Dr King’s Day, One hundreds-twelve African-Americans elitists, civil rights land church leaders, lawyers and business persons signed an opened-letter called: “Where do We Go From Here?”   Signatures came from the National Coalition on Black Civic Engagement (NCBCP); from people like Dr Michael E. Dyson, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr, Martin Luther King III, Bishop Eddie Long, Rev, Al Sharpton, Dr Joseph Lowery. Current and former public servants like the Honorable Glenda Hatchett and Calvin Smyre or Amb. Andrew Young have petitioned the letter. We ought to mention some Arts performers, actors and anchors were among many the black elitist the country has produced in forty years: Danny Glover, Mrs. Donna Brazile, Dr. Maya Angelou or Oscar Joyner.

They have come on this 40^th anniversary day, they wrote: “…So that their voices will be clearly heard.”

They stepped up to expand on the debate initiated by Senator B. Obama in during his Philadelphia’s speech, outlining most proposals that borne out of the latest “State of the Black Union ” in New Orleans, LA. They called on the mainstream to stop bashing African-American churches: “… We strongly uphold the right to religious freedom of expression as reflected in our churches and other faith institutions” They have also reminded America that: “Our (African-Americans) churches have been our moral foundation and prophetic witness for justice and equality since slavery, holding up a mirror on areas where the nation falls short on these virtues”

As wrote Kevin Merida in Washington Post, America failed 40 years after his death to tell younger generations that: “… His life has been simplified, his anger blurred, his militancy rarely discussed, his disappointments and harsh critiques of government’s failures glossed over.” -- WP, (4/4/08).

Forty years later, and after the Philadelphia’s Senator Obama at the 1787 built-Convention’s Hall, many Americans still want to be honoring the Dr King’s legacy, while ignoring the content and the substance it was made of: He opposed the DCs powers; he stood up against injustice, racism and segregation. The debate on race in America is still a dialogue that Americans must embrace candidly, constructively and brotherly in 2008, so we can all tackle challenges we have ahead of us.

Obama speech’s calling is an crucial call for a more perfect union in America, forty years after Dr King’s death and legacy.

-- Franklin Katunda

Obama for America, April 5, 2008

Was this MLK’s statements unpatriotic?

" I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."