Filmmaker Jazeel Gayle took a key passage from Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and transformed it into a powerful short film about Black Lives Matter. Read the rest

The time is always right to do what is right, that's true. But the timing of this is a pretty ugly retcon—especially after a new trove of FBI files on Martin Luther King, Jr. were just released six months ago, painting an ugly picture of frequent sexual misconduct. Read the rest

From 1989, Fingers Inc.'s beautiful mix of "Can You Feel It" with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech:

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"I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic. And yet I am not so opposed to capitalism that I have failed to see its relative merits. It started out with a noble and high motive, viz, to block the trade monopolies of nobles, but like most human systems, it falls victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has outlived its usefulness. It has brought about a system that takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes." Read the rest

From 1989, Fingers Inc.'s beautiful mix of "Can You Feel It" with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech:

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Ram used a sound clip from a Martin Luther King Jr. sermon, played over a montage of stereotypically patriotic imagery, as an ad for a truck. In response, Nathan Robinson took another quote (reportedly from the same speech) of MLK's thoughts on advertising--specifically, automobile advertising--and put it to the same video.

The agency knew what it was doing. They knew it would upset people. What a rotten, cynical ad. Read the rest

You've heard "I have a dream," but how about "Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children?" Read the rest

From 1989, Fingers Inc.'s beautiful mix of "Can You Feel It" with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech.

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On the Senate floor tonight, an extraordinary event. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) led a vote in which 49 GOP Senators chose to silence Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for reading aloud the words of Coretta Scott King, civil rights activist and the wife of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Warren was reading King's historic letter protesting the confirmation of noted white supremacist Jeff Sessions as a federal district court judge in the Southern District of Alabama. Read the rest

Sick of people whitewashing Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, artist Daniel Rarela created this series featuring quotes from King's “Letter From A Birmingham Jail.” The accompanying images are both historical and contemporary. As Rarela told Mic: “As a graphic designer, I wanted to shatter this false image of a Martin Luther King who everyone loved, never got arrested, was universally popular and made zero privileged people feel uncomfortable or angry enough to want to kill him.”

Because I'll be damned if I let Martin Luther King Jr. get whitewashed this year.#MLK #MLKday #MartinLutherKingDay #WhiteChurchQuiet #BLM pic.twitter.com/sMctbqX2Xd

— Daniel Rarela (@DJRarela) January 16, 2017

Because I'll be damned if I let Martin Luther King Jr. get whitewashed this year.#MLK #MLKday #MartinLutherKingDay #WhiteChurchQuiet #BLM pic.twitter.com/6Py0dbq3tL

— Daniel Rarela (@DJRarela) January 16, 2017

Because I'll be damned if I let Martin Luther King Jr. get whitewashed this year.#MLK #MLKday #MartinLutherKingDay #WhiteChurchQuiet #BLM pic.twitter.com/XRSJQpTAtE

— Daniel Rarela (@DJRarela) January 16, 2017

Because I'll be damned if I let Martin Luther King Jr. get whitewashed this year.#MLK #MLKday #MartinLutherKingDay #WhiteChurchQuiet #BLM pic.twitter.com/hZK8HTDkcp

— Daniel Rarela (@DJRarela) January 16, 2017

Because I'll be damned if I let Martin Luther King Jr. get whitewashed this year.#MLK #MLKday #MartinLutherKingDay #WhiteChurchQuiet #BLM pic.twitter.com/4KZLS7RSoY

— Daniel Rarela (@DJRarela) January 16, 2017

Because I'll be damned if I let Martin Luther King Jr. get whitewashed this year.#MLK #MLKday #MartinLutherKingDay #WhiteChurchQuiet #BLM pic.twitter.com/ZjyAkvvIt1

— Daniel Rarela (@DJRarela) January 16, 2017

Because I'll be damned if I let Martin Luther King Jr.

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An evening of police brutality in 1965 ushers in one of the most pivotal moments in Civil Rights history. From John Wilcock, New York Years, a history of the 1960s underground press and related events. (Also, Happy MLK Day, Jan 16)

From 1989, Fingers Inc.'s beautiful mix of "Can You Feel It" with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech.

Read the rest

In the great tradition of political heroes, Martin Luther King's legacy has been sanitized and purged of its most radical and urgent notions, watered down to a kind of meek pacifism that omits his beliefs in radical political change as a necessary condition of attaining real justice. Read the rest

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s soaring oration has come to define how many think of him, so it's interesting to hear Dr. King speaking conversationally in 1964 with Robert Penn Warren, almost in the relaxed feel of a podcast. Read the rest

Hamilton Nolan: "It all adds up to a simple formula: concede wholehearted support for the points that have already been won, while dismissing (as irrelevant, or unpatriotic, or immoral) the points that are still active political issues with which conservatives disagree." [Gawker] Read the rest

As the Prism/NSA leaks story unfolds, many Americans are left with a cynical "are you surprised?" response that rather misses the point. Recent American history is full of stories of spies using surveillance to target civil rights heroes like Martin Luther King, who was heavily surveilled during the Kennedy administration, culminating with the FBI sending him an anonymous package with evidence of his adultery and a note telling him to kill himself.

Here's a video and transcript of an excellent Chris Hayes editorial on MSNBC in which Hayes reminds us that America's spooks can and do use intelligence to attack causes that are later seen as being on the side of justice:

In 1964, after Hoover called King the most "notorious liar in the country" in a press conference, a package was sent to King in the mail, a package the House select committee ultimately traced back to the FBI. Inside this package, one of the most remarkable artifacts in American history was an anonymous letter addressed to Martin Luther King and a copy of an electronic surveillance tape apparently to lend credence to threats of exposure of derogatory personal information made in the letter. We don't know to this day for sure what was on that tape. The heavy speculation throughout the years it was of personal and sexual nature recorded by a device planted in Dr. King's hotel room.

The letter that came with the tape read in part, "you know you are complete fraud and a great liability to all of us negroes.

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