the revolutionary

The killing of Martin Luther King Jr was the ultimate result of the fusion of ugly white supremacist elites in the US government and citizenry and cowardly liberal careerists who feared King’s radical moves against empire, capitalism and white supremacy. If King were alive today, his words and witness against drone strikes, invasions, occupations, police murders, caste in Asia, Roma oppression in Europe, as well as capitalist wealth inequality and poverty, would threaten most of those who now sing his praises. As he rightly predicted: “I am nevertheless greatly saddened … that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling.”
    -- Cornel West

I have this old record of Martin Luther King giving CBC's Massey Lectures in 1967, and he talks about a number of things that actually break the mould in terms of our perception of who Martin Luther King, Jr. was. This isn't "I Have a Dream"; this is Martin Luther King talking about the war in Vietnam, and he's talking about the war that should be waged on poverty, and he's talking about human peace and understanding. This was the revolutionary Martin Luther King struggling for dramatic change in the United States — a complete change in our consciousness, a complete change of what it means to be a human being and what humanity means. If there was ever a historical moment when that was needed, I think we're in that moment right now. That for me is the Martin Luther King that I want to remember and I want my kids to know because he's kind of been reduced to this soundbyte of "I Have a Dream."
    -- David Austin, Montreal, CBC News-Jan 16, 2017