Martin Luther King: Waiting on His Dream

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode, the hosts discuss why Martin Luther King should not be limited by a selection of words from the "I Have a Dream" speech delivered in 1963, and how he pointed out the failings of America,  confronted those in power, and challenged them to make that dream a reality.  A FEW KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE If you look at the "I Have a Dream "speech, and you don't look at that one line, but you look at what he said about the state of Black America and how black Americans were shackled in their own country, then you get a better sense of how he was confronting America and his treatment of a large segment of the population. A great starting point to understand that when Martin Luther King Jr. says non-violent, he's confronting a system of American apartheid that is making second-class citizens. America's a violent nation. It was born of violence. It was maintained by violence in the form of a civil war, and it's held together through violence. Martin Luther King was a revolutionary and his revolution wasn't premised on having more guns. To download the transcript, CLICK HERE LINKS IN THIS EPISODE MLK NBC Interview 11 months before his assassination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xsbt3a7K-8 Letter From Birmingham Jail https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html Homestead Act of 1862 https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/civil_war/Homestead_Act.htm#:~:text=To%20help%20develop%20the%20American,western%20land%20to%20individual%20settlers https://www.aaihs.org/race-reconstruction/#:~:text=Since%20the%20Homestead%20Act%20was,and%20immigrant%20%E2%80%93%20profited%20from%20it. I Have A Dream Speech Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs I Have A Dream Speech Transcript https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety Frontline Transcript February 10, 1998 https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/script.html Washington Post Story on passage of King Day https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/articles/solemn_senate_votes_for_national_holiday.html Follow Ellis Conversations on Twitter Follow Judge Ronald Ellis on Twitter Follow Jamil Ellis on Twitter Follow Jamil Ellis on LinkedIn Check out Unified Ground Check out BlackHistoryChatGPT OTHER EPISODES OF INTEREST Affirmative Action: How We Got To Now John Lewis Voting Rights Act Role of Protest in Fostering Change