Obama's Martin Luther King Day Speech

Obama in front of the Lincoln Memorial, presenting his speech for the
50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's march on Washington, on August 28, 2013

I'm posting below excerpts from Obama's "I have a dream" speech which he gave on the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King's march on Washington. The event was commemorated at the "Let Freedom Ring" ceremony, on August 28, the title being a quote quote from King's speech.

The event took place at the Lincoln Memorial. Obama chose that location since it is where Martin Luther King also presented his "I have a dream" speech in 1963.

I waded through Google images and a sixteen minute video of King giving his speech, and could find no images of him standing in front of the memorial.

But, while viewing the video, I can come upon white-capped men on the stage with King. Below is a long shot of him at the memorial (a screen-shot from the video), surrounded by the men wearing the white caps.



It looks like the men are wearing Gandhi caps, I suppose signifying the "non-violence" mantra that Gandhi initiated to activate social change, and which King said he followed.



The image above is from the online Christianity Today, in a January 21, 2013 article titled: Why I Changed My Mind About Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' Speech.

Audrey Ruth comments on the white-capped men shown in the article:

August 29, 2013: There's not just one man in a white hat behind MLK in that pic -- there are a lot of them. The prevailing wisdom is that MLK was inspired by Gandhi above all. He did quote some scripture, but, as noted below, He did not believe that Jesus was/is Lord. He had some Muslim friends too, including Malcolm X. The bottom line, though, is that if any white preacher is immoral, he is deemed unworthy, period. He's not given a chance by the public to repent and be restored to the Lord. But people seem to give black preachers a pass on such things. I've noticed this through the years and wonder why this is so. I also noticed that not one black conservative leader was at the MLK memorial yesterday, yet he said he wanted people to be judged by their character, period. It doesn't look like that day will come anytime soon.

Here is are forum participants commenting on the Gandhi caps:

okay, so they are Ghandi caps. But that leads to my next question: what's up with Ghandi caps in America?

Obviously, Martin Luther King proudly associated himself with Ghandi's movement and its messsage of non-violence. But had the Ghandi cap become a popular symbol in America of 1963? Or was it pretty much limited to this one demonstration, and then faded away?

When I think of the famous historical symbols of the civil rights movement, I don't think of Ghandi caps. If I had been an average American watching the news that night in 1963 --would I have recognized the caps as a political statement? or as having any meaning at all?

One other point, this time on Obama's choice of his speech venue: Wouldn't it have been more meaningful to have held it in front of the Martin Luther King statue, and pass the torch on to King, rather than use other symbolic references to him?



There is ample space for a large crowd in front of the MLK statue, and some kind of platform could have been built for the speech makers.

I wonder if the statue is aesthetically unappealing to the event organizers, and deterred Obama and his organizing crew from setting the speech's stage before it?

Lawrence Auster wrote in 2011:

I’ve said the statue looks like an Oriental despot. But it’s more than that. It looks like a statue from one of the ancient cosmological empires, in which the pharoah, the god-king, personally embodies the all-ruling forces of the cosmos. Specifically, King’s hostile posture and facial expression are reminiscent of the ferocious statues of the kings of Assyria, that empire that crushed every nation it conquered until it was conquered and crushed itself.

Here are excerpts from Obama's August 28, 2013 "I have a dream" speech:

Because they marched [on August 28, 1963], America became more free and more fair, not just for African-Americans but for women and Latinos, Asians and Native Americans, for Catholics, Jews and Muslims, for gays, for Americans with disabilities.

[...]

To dismiss the magnitude of this progress, to suggest, as some sometimes do, that little has changed -- that dishonors the courage and the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years.

[...]

But we would dishonor those heroes as well to suggest that the work of this nation is somehow complete. The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn't bend on its own. To secure the gains this country has made requires constant vigilance, not complacency. Whether it's by challenging those who erect new barriers to the vote or ensuring that the scales of justice work equally for all in the criminal justice system and not simply a pipeline from underfunded schools to overcrowded jails it requires vigilance.

[...]

Yes, there have been examples of success within black America that would have been unimaginable a half-century ago. But as has already been noted, black unemployment has remained almost twice as high as white employment (sic), Latino unemployment close behind. The gap in wealth between races has not lessened, it's grown.

[T]he position of all working Americans, regardless of color, has eroded, making the dream Dr. King described even more elusive.

[...]

And what had once been a call for equality of opportunity, the chance for all Americans to work hard and get ahead was too often framed as a mere desire for government support, as if we had no agency in our own liberation, as if poverty was an excuse for not raising your child and the bigotry of others was reason to give up on yourself. All of that history is how progress stalled. That's how hope was diverted. It's how our country remained divided.

[...]

[W]e can stand together for good jobs and just wages. With that courage, we can stand together for the right to health care in the richest nation on earth for every person. (Applause.) With that courage, we can stand together for the right of every child, from the corners of Anacostia to the hills of Appalachia, to get an education that stirs the mind and captures the spirit and prepares them for the world that awaits them. (Applause.) With that courage, we can feed the hungry and house the homeless and transform bleak wastelands of poverty into fields of commerce and promise.

[...]

And that's the lesson of our past, that's the promise of tomorrow, that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.

Obama is very clever.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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