ON THIS DAY - APRIL 4TH...

Fifty-five years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was cut down by assassination.

Fifty- six years ago today, he spoke out forcibly against the brutal U.S. occupation of Vietnam, and the forces of “racism, extreme materialism, and militarism” from which it was born.

After speaking against the war, he lived for precisely one more year.

Read his powerful words below:

“I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin...we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence" Speech

Riverside Church, New York, N.Y., April 4, 1967

Listen to the entire speech here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJhgXKGldUk

THE MURDER OF MALCOLM X

Fifty-eight years after Malcolm X was gunned down, his family is suing government agencies over their role, charging that they "conspired to and executed their plan to assassinate Malcolm X."

"For years, our family has fought for the truth to come to light concerning his murder." -IIyasha Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X

https://www.reuters.com/legal/malcolm-xs-daughter-sue-cia-fbi-new-york-police-over-assassination-2023-02-21/

ON THIS DAY IN 1965...

Fifty-eight years ago, Malcolm X was savagely cut down in a hail of gunfire in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. His assassination was witnessed by his wife Betty, his six daughters and hundreds of onlookers.

By April 1964, Malcolm had been exiled from the Nation of Islam, the organization he had grown into prominence. But his banishment was a blessing in disguise. He was now free to speak and act in ways that he never could before. He began a journey that would see him become an international figure and a major threat to the power structure in the United States.

In his famous 1964 speech, "The Ballot or the Bullet", Malcolm dispenses wisdom that applies as much to today as yesterday, as Americans of all backgrounds face unrestricted globalization and a permeable national border:

...[I]t's time now for our people to become conscious of the importance of controlling the economy of our community. If we own the stores, if we operate the businesses, if we try and establish some industry in our own community, then we're developing to the position where we are creating employment for our own kind. Once you gain control of the economy of your own community, then you don't have to picket and boycott and beg some cracker downtown for a job in his business."

Substitute the word "cracker" for "state/corporate elites" (who, to be fair, is likely also a cracker), and you've got as good a blueprint for self-determination and personal reliance as anyone ever laid out.

Today we mourn Malcolm X's murder, but we recall his spirit and brilliance, and we call upon his courage to enact the "world-wide revolution" we so desperately need.