MLK

. .some black woman on a bus.

This speech of MLK's is one of the most powerful in history !

Al Gore made almost as an important speech on this day but was anyone listening ?

[cottmann]

. .some black woman on a bus.

This speech of MLK's is one of the most powerful in history !

But sadly, according to some sources, in part plagiarized from - or at least based on - a speech by Pastor Archibald Carey during the 1952 Republican National Convention:

Carey, 1952:
We, Negro Americans, sing with all loyal Americans:

My country 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!

That's exactly what we mean тАФ from every mountain side, let freedom ring. Not only from the Green Mountains and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire; not only from the Catskills of New York; but from the Ozarks in Arkansas, from the Stone Mountain in Georgia, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia тАФ let it ring not only for the minorities of the United States, but for . . . the disinherited of all the earth тАФ may the Republican Party, under God, from every mountainside, LET FREEDOM RING!


King, 1968

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrim's pride
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!

So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire!
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York!
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi!
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

... a story about homophobia in black churches in the US - http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... ergy_x.htm