[goldstategop]

Martin Luther King was born into a world filled with bigotry, racism and injustice. He used his God-given gifts to change it for the better. He showed us how to live our dreams and to realize the greatness that lies within us. That perhaps is the most inspiring message of his civil rights legacy. As Chuck Norris shows us today, we too, can become the stuff of legend, just like the man who changed a nation.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Pan_Yans Wife]

When my young son learned about King, he was in awe that such a man could live. It is encouraging to see a spark of interest in the youth... when they begin to see what they can contribute to the world.

[CAWats]

What really aggravates me is all the praise heaped on Cesar Chavez who never did anything for anyone except a few farm workers; most farm workers never did join his union opting instead to join the Teamsters. Martin Luther King did more for American Hispanics than anyone ever did. By promoting civil rights for blacks he helped Mexican-Americans (of which I am one) get the same rights. I get so angry at the lack of gratitude shown by Hispanics to MLK. Naming schools and parks for some lame union leader is really stupid. He did help a few farm workers but most Hispanics are not farm workers and Chavez really did very little for Hispanics.

[garjog]

Here is a favorite quote from a sermon by MLK:

"I would urge you to give priority to the search for God. Allow his Spirit to permeate your being. To meet the difficulties and challenges of life you will need him. Before the ship of your life reaches its last harbor, there will be long, drawn-out storms, howling and jostling winds, and temptations seas that make the heart stand still. If you do not have a deep and patient faith in God, you will be powerless to face the delays, disappointments, and vicissitudes that inevitably come. Without God, all of our efforts turn to ashes and our sunrises into darkest nights. Without him, life is a meaningless drama in which the decisive scenes are missing. But with him, we are able to rise from tension-packed valleys to the sublime heights of inner peace, and find radiant stars of hope against the nocturnal bosom of life's most depressing nights. "Thou hast created us for thyself, and our heart cannot be quieted till it find repose in thee".
Strength to Love, by Martin Luther King, Jr.

[spetznaz]

MLK was a great man who took a stand that led to change that just a decade earlier would probably have been thought of as nigh impossible. He, and many nameless others, did an amazing thing. I know that in a matter of moments (on this or some other thread) some people will start talking about 'faults' and other things that they claim MLK did/didn't do (no need to regurgitate them), but the fact is even if they are true there were millions of so-called 'perfect' people who did absolutely nothing but sit there. He (and others like him, male and female, black and white) actually decided to do something.

I'd rather have a single 'flawed' person who actually takes a stand than a million 'perfectos' sipping coffee and moaning about the state of affairs in the morning paper.

[tobyhill]

I'm tired of schools trying to portray this dead man in a way he wasn't. He was a criminal that had a big audience, nothing more, nothing less! I have a dream that one day this time in history will be represented in the way it really was.

[Tribune7]

Martin Luther King was born into a world filled with bigotry, racism and injustice. He used his God-given gifts to change it for the better. He showed us how to live our dreams and to realize the greatness that lies within us.

Well said.

[FreeAtlanta]

I wish the name of the holiday would be changed to "Civil Rights Day". This is much more inclusive. None of our other holidays are named after one person. Why should this one?

[GOPJ]

I heard MLK give his "I Have a Dream" speech in Chicago a few months after he had given it in Washington, DC. It was not the same speech.

Dr. King had modified the speech and expanded the part dealing with his vision of the future. He spoke of his dreams for the nation, for the civil rights movement and for the time past the cause.

In the speech Dr. King alluded to the feeling that he wouldn't make it to the end of the struggle - almost as if he had a foreshadowing of his own death. People in the audience were crying. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

A few years back I saw the Washington, DC speech on TV and was stunned at how inadequate it was compared to the later dream speech in Chicago.