I saw a video last night of MLK giving his mountaintop speech. I think it was given 2 days before he died, and it’s really intense how sure of his own death he was. He expresses very similar sentiments to this one, and sounds like he’s saying goodbye and asking folks to develop their own leadership plans for when he’s gone. The clip was played right after a report on the Iraq war and how Bush was going to veto the troop withdrawal bill that was passed in the Senate. It made me really angry that our country is playing out the antithesis of MLK’s dream and Tom Brokaw or whatever the hell his name is is all like “And we all carry Martin Luther King and his message around in our hearts. Great American hero.” I am sad that most people aren’t even going to get that.

post here: http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2008/01/21/how-martin-luther-king-jr-wished-to-be-remembered/

Quote here:
“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day,” King told the congregation of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church on February 4, 1968, two months before his assassination, “I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize — that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards — that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.”