The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: the best of America

Were Martin Luther King alive today to celebrate his 90th birthday, what would he have to say about his nation’s contentious racial landscape? America is a far different place than when King was felled by an assassin’s bullet in 1968 at the young age of 39. An African-American has served two terms as president of the United States — something King likely thought even his children would never see. Blacks have served at the top levels of the Cabinet, on the Supreme Court, in the halls of Congress, as state governors. In New York, both houses of the Legislature are led by African-Americans, and the state’s chief law-enforcement official is a black woman. Indeed, race is no longer any barrier not just to the ballot box, but to elective office. Such an achievement surely would cheer King, for it was a long time coming. And it came about because the movement of which he was the public face fundamentally transformed America’s sensibility. Born in the churches of the South, the civil-rights movement challenged white America to purge itself of racism. It did so through moral power, nonviolence, an appeal to faith, a call for civil disobedience of unjust laws and… Read full this story

• 50 years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, a dream of equal opportunity unfulfilled
• The other things Martin Luther King Jr. said at the March on Washington
• Martin Luther King Jr's granddaughter, 12, vows 'we will fulfill my grandfather's dream' at March on Washington's 57th anniversary as George Floyd's siblings and Breonna Taylor's mom demand change and justice in front of the 50,000-strong crowd
• 'Free at last': Jerry Falwell Jr quotes Martin Luther King Jr to say he's 'relieved' after resigning from Liberty University over pool boy sex scandal
• Large demonstrations in D.C. honor Martin Luther King Jr., other Black Americans
• Our Views: 50 years later, Martin Luther King Jr.’s words seem as urgent as ever
• NAACP wants newscaster fired after Martin Luther King slur
• ‘It was an extraordinary speech’: the day I met Martin Luther King
• Thousands of BLM protesters gather in Washington on anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech
• The America I Love Needs to Do Better

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: the best of America have 361 words, post on nypost.com at January 20, 2019. This is cached page on Vietnam Dance. If you want remove this page, please contact us.