US News
Commemorations held across US on 40th anniversary of King's slaying
Apr 4, 2008, 17:45 GMT
Visitors view the tomb of slain civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 04 April 2008. King was assassinated 40 years ago today in Memphis, Tennessee. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER
Washington - Politicians, civil rights leaders and ordinary Americans commemorated the life and death of Martin Luther King Jr on Friday, 40 years after he was assassinated at the age of only 39.
President George W Bush said the anniversary was a time to celebrate King's 'powerful and eloquent message of justice and hope' but said the struggle for racial equality that began with King and the civil rights movement had not yet ended.
'As we reflect upon Dr Kings life and legacy, we must recommit ourselves to following his lasting example of service to others,' he said in a statement.
But some of the ongoing racial tensions were on display as Republican presidential candidate John McCain was heckled when he spoke outside the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, where King was shot by a sniper as he stepped out for a breath of fresh air.
McCain apologized to the crowd for not initially supporting a federal holiday celebrating King's life, drawing some boos from the crowd largely made up of African Americans, while others called out 'we forgive you.'
'I remind you that we can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr King understood this about his fellow Americans,' McCain said.
King's birthday became a holiday in 1986. Funds are now being raised for a King monument alongside those of US presidents on Washington's National Mall - where he gave his most famous speech, 'I have a dream,' in 1963 during the famed march on Washington.
Democratic contender Barack Obama, vying to be the first African American president, held a moment of silence at a rally in Indiana and said he had spoken to King's family to offer his thoughts.
Obama said King fought to improve the 'opportunities that should be available to all races.'
Hillary Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, described how she was able to shake the hand of King at an event in Chicago when she was only 14 years old.
'He just took it and looked in my face and thanked me for coming,' she said at a stop in Memphis. 'That Dr King had such a lasting impact on a young white girl ... tells us something about the reach and power of his vision.'
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Older Talkback
page: 1
We have a MLK street in my town, and, predictably, it is in a predominanlty black neighborhood. I noticed it was not downtown, or in the exclusive West Hills, or Lake Oswego where Sprtingstten once owned a home....of course not!
Now, bear in mind, the locals had an election and rejected it, but the city went on and did it anyway.
What I would like to see is, the next time someone gets this hair up their ass, to find out where they live, and name the street THEY live on after this so called hero, who ever it might be!
everybody grows pot in Portland??
has freeways, roadways, avenues, lanes, alleys, highways, byways, and jeep-trails named for him all over the country. So does Julio Cesar Chavez.
Dear sir:
If you will just start walking upright, people might notice.
The blacks and non whites were getting to become equal, when this loser marched out to passive resistence and 'ANTI-ELIJAH' campaign. After his big rally as planned by the white man, he was killed and made into a marty. So that his teachings would be published and propagated by the whiteman and slavery of the minorities would continue. Passive resistence works when minority rules, like in Iraq, Afghanistan etc, but not where minority is being subjugated as in europe, america or australia.
The world has seen oppertinities for minorities disappear in all three places. THAT WAS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF MLK!
...dirty clothes, a backpack with about 50 half eaten-candy bars, an empty bottle of medication, a Barbi doll with the head missing, unshorn hair and a tinfoil hat with a red light on top????
all that pot you're smoking.
..with some of these posts, they'd be easier to read if I were high...
Dr. King was truly an inspirational leader during a difficult time in America's history. The turbulent times of the 60's with the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement, and the war in Vietnam called for the rational leadership of Dr. King. He used his words and actions to inspire a generation to change the status quo. Although his life was cut short, his message continues to live. Senator Clinton was inspired by his words and actions as a young girl. She has used her life to bring about change. I find it remarkable that she attended the State of the Black Union in New Orleans in February, and she attended the 40th Anniversary of Dr. King's death in Atlana on Friday; but Senator Obama was too busy campaigning to attend.
MLK was a loser and not a HERO! Are you a 'white supremist?' you sound like one. you are the most ignorant person I have ever had the displeasure of reading, you and SP4 must be related...
I think its a disgrace that Obama could not take time to go to Memphis.To honor MLK.After all if it had'nt been MLK he would'nt be where he is today.He could take time to go on vaction.But not take the time to go to Memphis to honor a man that did so much.
..but someone would have to tell me how my posts abve make me a racist????
King has such a following among white people in the USA because he did so much for them, too.
Look at the Southeastern US back in the 1960's: Agrarian, poor, low employment....King came along and leveled the playing field and the South became an economic powerhouse for the United States, which is going on to this day. The old southern democrats who institutionalized Jim Crow were brushed aside, and new reforms changed whole areas like Mississippi and Georgia.
In fact, places like New Orleans, who lagged behind, now are realizing that and finally traded in their Culture of Grievence Governor for a new one. 35 years later this guy is still having an effect.
This is what I love about America: One person can really change things here.
in Portladd eh SP4?
I have never understood why the date of someone's death is sometimes made into a big celebration, etc., rather than the date of their birth?
page: 1
PeteApr 4th, 2008 - 17:54:49
I find it interesting how America immortalizes it's heroes. In California they name freeways after them. The more 'important' the man. the bigger the freeway. What did Martin Luther King get named after him? A two lane Black-top. I always wondered if there was anything racist about that.
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