Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Meet The Press - MLK - 1965


When I was a kid I hated Sunday morning television. It was all politics on every station. At the age of 11, although I knew that I was living through some historical times, I was more interested in old movies than the political debates on the important issues of the day. Don’t take me wrong, even at that tender age I had definite points of view on everything from school integration to the War in Vietnam, I just wanted Sundays to be carefree and didn’t see the purpose of these shows.

Well, I’m older now, and perhaps a bit wiser; it’s hard to say. But I have a love of history, and You Tube is a veritable mother lode of information on just about any subject you can imagine, so I have been scrolling through some of the old Sunday morning shows which I didn’t appreciate at the time. It is amazing at what I am finding in my search.

Take this episode of Meet the Press from March 28, 1965, with Martin Luther King, Jr. appearing within a week of the infamous Selma March and the bloodbath on the bridge during the march to the State Capitol in Montgomery. It is of particular interest because of the recent gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court. That law was passed in response to all of the abuses taking place in the South; and elsewhere; when it came to the Right to Vote.

Listen carefully to the words and apply them to the situation as it stands today. Although we have an African-American President, racism is not dead in America. Far from it; it’s on the upswing. The Supreme Courts recent decision concerning the Voting Rights Act only makes it clearer.

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