Free Republic

As much as I hate to take issue with my colleagues here, it is hyperbolic to call Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a “conservative.� It is true King was no New Left radical. He had little use for Malcolm X and in his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail� he famously denounced “the hatred and despair of the black nationalist.� But King’s views before his antiwar speech were left-of-center, for his day or ours. King believed in a guaranteed annual income, opposed Vietnam well before 1967, and, “content of their character� notwithstanding, voiced support for some form of racial preferences....

Apologies for the tease (can you post pics here? I'm a FR noob...) but follow the jump for perhaps one of the rarest photographs in existence. Of the beloved Bella Pelosi. Prepare yourselves...

I’ve been reading about the planned Sept. 11 National Day of Service. I certainly do not have an issue with service, but if my memory serves right – and it does today – we already have a national day of service… Martin Luther King Day. There has been a bit of a kerfuffle about Democrats selecting Sept. 11 as a national day of service. The event – with more at Serve.gov – been discussed over at Hot Air, Atlas Shrugs and Gateway Pundit, but I’m wondering what this development means for the Martin Luther King national day of volunteer service?

Here is video of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece, Dr. Alveda C. King, who claims her uncle was a Republican, along with her father and grandfather. She says the issue of abortion - the rights of the "preborn" - is the issue that demands focus today in upholding the rights of all people. She does not say she believes her uncle would be a Republican today, but the implication is certainly there. The video is put out by the National Black Republican Association (NBRA). It sheds some light on the story we posted earlier about the controversy created by...

Here is a video report on the uproar created in the Houston, Texas area by a billboard that says Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a "Republican." . . . . . (Watch Video)

ATLANTA – DreamWorks plans the first big-screen portrayal of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, the studio announced Tuesday, but two of King's children immediately threatened legal action because the film deal was brokered without their blessing. DreamWorks touted the project in a press release as the first theatrical motion picture authorized by the estate using King's intellectual property, including copyrighted speeches and other works, as the basis for the film. Steven Spielberg was listed as a co-producer. The only other film about King that made it to theaters was a documentary that was shown for one day in...

Here is a report on photos taken in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that are just now being published. A Life Magazine photographer rushed to the scene on April 4, 1968 after King was shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The report shows several of the photos he took at the motel after King was killed. . . . . . . (Watch Video Report)

A Lakeview Elementary parent is upset the audience of a school program on Martin Luther King Jr. was asked to stand for a song known as the black national anthem. Two teachers performed the song, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” — known to some as the “Black National Anthem” — as part of a 15-minute program during Black History Month. Russ Roberts, who has a first-grade daughter and fourth-grade son at Lakeview, said he was shocked when the audience was asked to stand for the song after it was identified as the “Black National Anthem.” He said he doesn’t object...

Human rights advocate and community activist Martin Luther Kind III visited the headquarters of the Missionaries of the Charity on Thursday and prayed at the tomb of Mother Teresa. "I am blessed that to get this opportunity to visit the place from where Mother Teresa carried out her service to humanity. World needs peace and humanity as Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi provided," Luther said. "We came to pay tribute to walk in the areas and steps of Mahatma Gandhi and my father but also to reacquire inspiration because our world needs a message of non-violence and peace," Luther added....

And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous Robert Reich, January 2009: "If construction jobs go mainly to white males who already dominate the construction trades, many people who need jobs the most -- women, minorities, and the poor and long-term unemployed -- will be shut out."Rev. Joe Lowery, Presidential Inauguration 2009: "When black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right." I must...

On January 19th 2009, America celebrated the history of Martin Luther King Jr.. On January 20th, one day later, the people of this nation witnessed a man named Barack Obama become president. A nation’s voting majority and the media, became enablers to a man’s political aspirations and conduct which mocked the very words that were spoken by a black man with a dream. The dream of Martin Luther King Jr. was: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but...

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: Slavery, Secession, Segregation and now Socialism. It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started the...

Today is Martin Luther King Day, a time to reflect on the struggles and triumphs of man’s quest for equality of opportunity. A little-known piece of this history is the politics of the civil rights struggle has much in common with Hawai`i’s path to statehood. In 1959 the 85th Congress of the United States voted the Territory of Hawai`i into the Union. Despite overwhelming support by 94% of Hawai`i voters in a 1959 statehood plebiscite, and very strong support in two earlier statehood plebiscites, the U.S. Senate debated the admission of Hawai`i and Alaska in a way that mirrored the...

Dr. Alveda King believes that most Americans, including African Americans and those who live in neighborhoods like Mount Airy, West Oak Lane and Cheltenham, are pro-life. She also believes those who aren't should be. Furthermore, she believes that with the proper education about not only abortion, but also the dangers of birth control, most would return to traditional sexual values. It is clear that when the daughter of the late civil rights leader Rev. A. D. King and the niece of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks on life issues, many listen. This was certainly the case when she...

Barack Obama isn't even president yet, but a community in Main is thinking about naming a middle school for him. By the beginning of the next school year, Marin City middle school students will have a new building to study in. The question is will the new school also have a new name? It's a debate because the current name is Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, and some aren't ready for that to change.

On November 5, 2008 CBS News’s Maggie Rodriguez asked her guest, “Did you think also, Dr. King, about your presidential quests in 84 and 88 and how you laid the foundation for his victory yesterday?” No, I’m not having a Biden moment. And no, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not survive an assassination attempt in 1964, run for president twenty years later, and chat about Barack Obama’s victory on CBS at age 80. Maggie Rodriguez’s guest was not the great American hero Martin Luther King, Jr., but the unhinged has-been Jesse Jackson. Rodriguez’s Freudian slip is profoundly depressing —...

In his book, Strength to Love, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “a true Christian cannot be a true Communist.� While Barack Obama enjoys comparing himself with Dr. King, under King’s standards, Obama could not be a true Christian. Obama’s policies and personal beliefs directly oppose the tenets of Christianity and are directly in line with Communism. According to King, “Man cannot save himself, for man is not the measure of all things and humanity is not God. Bound by the chains of his own sin and finiteness, man needs a Savior.� Yet in 2004, Obama stated “I believe that...

I had the pleasure of meeting Gianna Jessen earlier this year at "Walk for Life San Francisco." Gianna's vibrant energetic personality is therapeutic. Engaging her in conversation is a sure cure for anyone struggling with personal demons of fear and insecurity! Gianna is a sure and certain candidate for receiving the 'against all odds' award. Challenges are not new to Gianna. She was scheduled for a saline solution abortion while she was in her third trimester in her mother's womb. After being burned alive for approximately 18 hours, she survived! Her mother gave her up for adoption and the saline...

If John McCain can win Pennsylvania, then he wins the White House, the latest banter from the Beltway goes. But with the presidential race tightening just days before the election, Pennsylvania holds the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and a West Chester-based grassroots organization is reminding Pennsylvania voters - many of whom live on the rolling countryside between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh - just how Sen. Barack Obama views small town America. "Sen. Obama, we are Pennsylvanians from small towns," an unidentified woman says before a number of faces appear in the ad questioning Mr. Obama's view of small-town Pennsylvania. Let...

The Rev. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III haven't spoken to their brother in months, and their painful family feud has kept Dexter King from meeting his only niece, his two remaining siblings said Saturday. The middle children of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King told The Associated Press that the ongoing fight may seem at odds with their parents' peacemaking example. But they maintain their decision to face their brother in court, though difficult, is in keeping with what they were taught.

On today's 45th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Dr. Alveda King - a pastoral associate for Priests For Life and niece of the late civil rights leader - released this statement: "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man of God, a man of great compassion, and a man of non-violence, once said, 'The Negro cannot win as long as he is willing to sacrifice the lives of his children for comfort and safety.' I know in my heart that if Uncle Martin were alive today, he would join with me in the greatest...

How many times can the most important speech on race in America be made in one year? Probably one. Even though Barack Obama will accept the Democratic nomination for president on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and even though you can practically see the goose-bumps in the mainstream media’s stories about Obama’s “march into history,” tonight’s acceptance speech will largely not be about race in America. This is because Obama has already squandered his oratorical share of American racial history on a speech vouching for a delusional race-huckster from Chicago named Jeremiah...

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King's, I Have A Dream, speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Given the design I have seen, the props are going to represent the Lincoln Memorial.My take on the speech tomorrow is that he is going to attempt to make himself appear as the fulfillment of Dr King's speech.

Why Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican By Frances Rice It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: Slavery, Secession, Segregation and now Socialism. It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the...

Two of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s children are suing their brother, accusing him of wrongfully taking money from their parents' estates. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III allege that Dexter King took "substantial funds" out of Coretta Scott King's estate and "wrongfully appropriated" money from their father's estate. The suit, filed Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court, serves as a very public fissure in an iconic family that has always professed unity, particularly as questions have swirled around some of their financial dealings. In a written statement Friday, Dexter King called the suit "inappropriate and false." "I'm...

A coupla observations about the Rev. Jesse Jackson: 1. He doesn't wish Obama well any more than the Rev. Wright does. Both of these reverends have built careers around victimization and Obama's call to self-examination and personal responsibility is tantamount to calling for these fellows' retirement. Both Wright and Jackson also are accustomed to center stage. They are no one's audience. 2. We can generally judge as more honest what people say "off mic" than when they're "on." Undoubtedly, Jackson expressed his true feelings toward Obama. But one wonders whether he unconsciously was targeting his son as well? The younger...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For a number of weeks, RFFM.org will write a series of columns on the conspiracies which have helped to form the world we live in today. From the killers themselves to the media's role in conspiracies, RFFM.org will attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff. There will be no discussions of flying saucers, USO's (unidentified submerged objects) or the like in this series. RFFM.org encourages readers to submit intelligent comments about the existence of conspiracies and, who knows, perhaps one of the real killers of JFK might actually write in. Now, before I start receiving weird comments...

Tributes poured out from all over the world in honor of Martin Luther King with Father George Clements of Chicago saying King "is a saint" and "should be canonized." Meanwhile on the streets of Chicago rioting broke out after King's death. Three thousand National Guard troops were initially deployed as many fires burned on the West Side of the city. Dozens were injured by rocks thrown at their cars or by gangs on the streets. Bricks were thrown at firefighters trying to put out the flames and stores were looted. Mayor Richard Daley called on President Johnson for regular Army...

"go home and get your guns"-Stokely Carmichael April 4,1968 in Washington D.C. I had a habit of sitting in the kitchen and eating my breakfast while the radio was turned on to the morning news. The morning of Friday April 5th, 1968 I heard the account of a radio reporter (from UPI) who hid under a car while mobs rioted in the street around him. He sounded scared and he had reason to as rioting broke out in the nation's captial following the assassination of Martin Luther King late on the evening or April 4th and early on the morning...

I received this bit of history by e-mail. Dr. King, from a speech given on April 4, 1967, in New York: "I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government" {snip} "The only change came from America as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept and without popular support. All the while the people read our leaflets and received regular promises of peace and...

Martin Luther King Jr. died at age 39; today, the 40th anniversary of his death, is the first time he has been gone longer than he lived. Figures such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have tried to claim his place on the American stage. But at most they have achieved fame and wealth. What separated King from any would-be successor was his moral authority. He towered above the high walls of racial suspicion by speaking truth to all sides. Now comes Barack Obama, a black man and a plausible national leader, who appeals across racial lines. But to his...

Near the end of his life, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. felt cornered and under siege. His opposition to the Vietnam War was widely criticized, even by friends. He was being pressured both to repudiate the black power movement and to embrace it. Some of his lieutenants were urging him to jettison his urgent new campaign to uplift the poor, believing that King had taken on too much and was compromising support for the civil rights struggle.

On Thursday April 4th, 1968 the City of Memphis was back in federal court seeking a permanent injunction against any protest by Martin Luther King to support the sanitation workers strike. Police Director Frank Holloman spoke of black adults buying guns and young black people receiving training in the use of molotov cocktails. In the evening I watched the "Huntley-Brinkley Report" on NBC and saw the story of the day before including the King speech. I was seven years old and this was the first time I had ever heard the name "Martin Luther King." In the evening just after...

Dr. Martin Luther King originally wanted to stage a new march in Memphis on Friday April 5th, 1968 but decided to push the march back to Monday the 8th so labor leaders could show up. The City of Memphis was afraid of more violence if King led another march on behalf of the striking sanitation workers. They went to federal court seeking an injunction. Federal District Judge Bailey Brown issued a temporary restraining order against a march on Monday April 8th. It was with that court order in mind that Dr. King made what would be his last speech. The...

On Monday April 1st, Martin Luther King was in Atlanta preparing for a return to Memphis to lead a march on behalf of the striking sanitation workers. He spoke to his aides and others that day. Matters of discussion were the planned Poor People's March On Washington later in the year and the decision of President Johnson not to run for re-election. King had started on good terms with Johnson, who pushed through the controversial civil rights legislation of 1964. Portions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were seen by conservatives as federal power usurping state power in an...

The sanitation workers strike in Memphis could be seen as just any other labor-management dispute over pay, but since most of the workers were black, the racial aspect stood out. This brought Dr. Martin Luther King to Memphis in the spring of 1968 to support the strike that had begun in February. On March 28th, 1968 King marched with five thousand others in the streets of Memphis. Around 20 minutes after the march began, 200 youths began to break windows and loot stores along Beale Street. The march turned into chaos and Dr. King was taken away. One person was...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is upset that the nation's largest abortion business is using the image of her uncle and his words on its web site. Planned Parenthood has a section on its web page celebrating Black History Month and featuring quotes from pro-abortion African American leaders to sell itself to black Americans.However, its use of King's image and words is upsetting to his niece, Dr. Alveda King.Alveda is a leading pro-life advocate who has been victimized by abortion and she shares the pain of her abortion decision and the hope...

The Northeastern School Board's discussion Monday regarding the calendar for the 2008-09 school year prompted a debate over the role of two holidays. The district designated Jan. 19, 2009, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as a day off. It designated Feb. 16, 2009, Washington's Birthday, and Presidents Day, as a snow makeup day. A snow makeup day is considered a day off unless the district has been forced to cancel too many school days because of the weather. If a cancellation does occur, a snow makeup day is considered a normal day of school. This system helps districts ensure that...

Oprah Winfrey, the popular television talk show hostess, probably doesn’t realize it, but she is being used by a radical Muslim organization. Last month, she aired a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., where she featured the daughter of a well known Islamist leader. Now, the leader and his operation are spreading the word that Oprah has helped their group to hit the big time. On January 21st, the Oprah Winfrey Show aired its ‘The Dream Lives: A Martin Luther King Day Special.’ It was a very personal event for Winfrey, because she credits much of her success to Dr....

Cult leaders, driven by narcissism – they want to control others.~ Dr. Michael Stone, "Cult Followers" TV program I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.~ Rev. Martin Luther King Dear Rev. Preacher: I saw you the other day, Rev. Preacher. You were reading a prepared statement of support to your mistress as she, though shorter than you, looked down to you and upon all who witnessed this spectacle. She stands with...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Roe v. Wade celebrated its thirty-fifth anniversary on Tuesday, but prominent African-American leaders say the black community isn't ready to party. That's because abortion has affected black Americans in disproportionate numbers as more blacks have abortions and more abortion business are in historically black neighborhoods. Day Gardner, the head of the National Black Pro-Life Union, tells LifeNews.com that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would have been a strong pro-life advocate were he alive today."I believe if Dr. King were alive today, he would not rest until every unborn child was granted his or her basic right...

Today being Martin Luther King Day the President and First Lady visited the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. and encourages fellow Americans to get involve in volunteer programs. MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

ATLANTA - Hundreds of civil rights leaders and others crowded Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church on Monday to celebrate the man and his legacy. "We would be remiss if we did not commemorate Martin Luther King Jr., a champion of peace in a time of war," said Isaac Newton Farris Jr., a nephew of King. The King Center has asked the nation to commemorate his birthday for 40 years ? for more years than the civil rights leader lived, Farris said. King was assassinated at age 39 on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of a...

On the national holiday that celebrates the birth of famed civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., the AP decided to remind us all that there was more to King than the popularized view of him affords. AP says that it is a shame that King has been "frozen in a moment in time that ignores the full complexity of the man and his message." Who can disagree with this? After all, very often notable historical figures end up being turned into cardboard cartoons known for that one "frozen moment" in history that made them famous. But, even as the...

History is up to its old tricks again. The radical agitator of one generation becomes the conservative icon of another. Martin Luther King Jr. meets the very definition of an American conservative, that is, someone dedicated to preserving the gains of a liberal revolution. Even when he was leading the civil rights movement, what appeal could have been more conservative or more American than his now classic speech before the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963? "I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is...

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: Slavery, Secession, Segregation and now Socialism. It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started the...

There are many people in our great land aggrieved over the idea that Hillary Clinton thinks Martin Luther King Jr. was not the hero of the civil rights movement. This idea seems so illogical that the only way to understand it is to approach it as a puzzle. After all, why would a white person running for president in 2008 dismiss the legacy of King near his birthday, which is celebrated as a national holiday, and right before a primary in a state with a large black vote? ... Why do people like op-ed columnist Bob Herbert, South Carolina Rep....

Barack Obama is the tipping-point man, the meme of the moment, the miracle cure for that chronic American malady: feelin' bad about things. Obama may be "all that," as they say, but let's be clear: Americans are in thrall not with Obama, but with the idea of Obama. His supporters have endowed him with near-mystical powers, not unlike the old Hollywood stereotype of the wise and mystical black person who materializes as a deus ex machina to save the white protagonist. Think Bagger Vance. As one who swooned early over Obama -- the handsome bi-man of unity -- and wrote...

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: slavery, secession, segregation and now socialism.   It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started...

At this point, there seems little doubt about the ugliness that has simmered, and then boiled, in a little town in Louisiana called Jena. There is a lot that has already been said, and done, about the latent racism in the town that led to the display of nooses on a tree. Racism that led, in reaction, to six black youths brutally beating a young white man, and then the subsequent disproportionate sentencing, in which those black youths could have served prison time for trumped-up murder charges. Action has been taken, and will be taken, so that those charges, and...