Yesterday marked the 39th year since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
If he had lived, he would be 78, and, based on today’s world, would probably be talking about the war in Iraq, poverty, housing and education.
When we hear about Dr. King today it is usually connected to “one” speech he made at the 1968 March on Washington.
I attended this march but there are many more speeches he gave in his lifetime that were even more important, such as his Beyond Vietnam speech, where he received a lot of criticism. Many people felt that that alone could have sparked someone to try and assassinate him.
Exactly one year prior to Dr. King’s death on April 4, 1967, he delivered his Vietnam speech at Riverside Church in New York. What is so ironic about that speech – it could easily be appropriate today. If you replaced the word Iraq where he talked about Vietnam it can make chills run down your spine.
Dr. King was born Jan. 15, 1929 at his family home in Atlanta, Ga. He was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. on April 4, 1968.
Remembering King and his views on Vietnam in next week’s Austin Weekly News
-Delores McCain
