**I Have A Dream**

Silvertwinky · 08-23-2003, 01:51 PM

It's kind of hard to believe that it's been 40 years today since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech; "I have a Dream"

It was the largest rally in Washington at that time. It kind of makes me feel a little on the vintage side, so to speak.

I wonder just how many people that visited that day had traveled there in an Airstream.

Davydd · 08-23-2003, 09:25 PM

SilverTwinky,

I'll have to admit the date did not register with me. I had one year of college in, living the good life in good times and what is to come this November for a 40 year anniversary will be the watershed that probably affected the course of my life more than anything.

Silvertwinky · 08-24-2003, 04:53 AM

Actually, I stand to be corrected on the date. Evidently it was on the 28th that he gave his speech. There was a documentary on television where they were commemorating the anniversary of the speech. I seen clips of the speech and assumed the 23rd was the anniversary date. The date wasn't one that stayed in my memory as did what happened on the 22nd of November. I was only 7 when he gave that speech but I remember well where I was at on the 22nd day of November, 1963!

maxandgeorgia · 08-24-2003, 05:10 PM

Your thoughts will remind many of us of days and words that are etched in our minds for a lifetime. Dr. King's speech, JFK's assassination, Oklahoma, 9-11. . .and for those who are older than I am, Dec. 7. . . I wonder what other memorable dates stand etched in the minds of other readers of this forum and why? I believe that unforgettable days and unforgettable words are part of the essential glue that binds us--all of us so diverse--together as this incredible nation, America. I am a middle school teacher. I just bought Caroline Kennedy's book, A Patriot's Handbook, filled with the songs, poetry, speeches, court decisions and so much more that help us understand how America has grown to be the land we share today. I plan to share lots of this with my kids this year. So much about what your thread made me think about. I hope we hear from others out there!

lee · 08-24-2003, 10:07 PM

I was somewhat curious about the MLK celebration going on in DC. I was only 10 when this took place and didn't have much of a memory of what went on in those times. I was surfing the cable and just happened across the MLK broadcast on CSPAN . I watched it with rather great disgust as most of the speakers were very young 25 ish and appeared to be nothing but professional protesters who were spewing hate. There were a couple of exceptions one a young hispanic girl who gave a pretty good and very idealistic speach and secoundly a short speech by Dick Gregory, who was at the origional with MLK, that was very uplifting. When the camera panned the crowd there were hardly any people there .

I must state I only saw about 1 & 1/2 hrs of programming so that may not be representative of the whole event, but what I saw was mostly disturbing and not at all unifying.

Did anybody else see this on cspan and if so what is your view?

85MH325 · 08-25-2003, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lee

I must state I only saw about 1 & 1/2 hrs of programming so that may not be representative of the whole event, but what I saw was mostly disturbing and not at all unifying.

Did anybody else see this on cspan and if so what is your view?

Lee,

You have an interesting observation. I was eight when this speech was given, and Camelot came to an end. I'm not an historian or teacher, but I enjoy history.

There is an old chinese curse that says: "May you live in interesting times." We live in interesting times. We grew up with desegregation, the Civil Rights Movement, a Presidential assassination and the end of "Camelot", the "Summer of Love", Woodstock, the Viet Nam war, the Watts and Chicago riots, all of Republican and Democratic conventions televised since the '50s, Watergate and the fall of the "Crooked King" (in context), and a host of other political and social upheavals, all televised for our "enlightenment" and beamed into our living rooms. Think about how different the social climate that we were raised in in the late '50s through the late '70s than what the young adults coming into the workforce today were raised with in the '80s and '90s. Their view of our world is very different. Quite frankly our view is very different from our parents' (the WWII) generation as they were shaped by different social forces.

They still tend to see the government as supportive and trustworthy. We tend to trust government less the more we're involved with it. The twenty-somethings aren't involved in government. Very different perspectives.

If you study any or all of the "social movements" through history, their rise to social consciousness is a winding path that doesn't typically follow a straight line to reach their goal, whatever it may be. The goals may not be straightforward, nor are the goals espoused at the onset necessarily even the goals that are obtained. The first task for any social movement is to gain followers among the disenfranchised that the movement wants to attract, and getting folks you want to join fired up is the way to attract followers.

I'm not sure that the "Civil Rights Movement" ever had at it's heart, a unifying message for the entire population. I believe it was largely a rallying cry by the leadership of a large segment of our population who felt disenfranchised and passed by. I think it's only been the last few years that we've tended to think of the Civil Rights Movement as unifying rather than separatist; a view not supported by history. A sort of revisionist's perspective, I think... Hopefully history will write that the Civil Rights Movement WAS successful at integrating our population...

Roger

lee · 08-25-2003, 09:30 PM

Roger,

We most definately live in " Interesting Times ".

The facinating part of CSPAN's coverage was the pan of the crowd. The crowd was mixed racially , a rather small crowd, and the people had rather expressionless faces that seemed to be numb. It was as though there was a complete disconnect between the speakers and the attendee's.

Yes these are very interesting times!

LittleRadio · 08-26-2003, 05:57 AM

There's a book (now some 10 years old, but still worth reading) entitled "The History of America's Future." Can't remember the two authors, but the book reviews and predicts the characteristics and tendancies of American generations.

Very compelling reading. The descriptions of my parents' generation -- and of my own -- are fascinatingly accurate.

A must read especially if you're a history buff or someone with some level of "social awareness."

And now back to our regularly scheduled Airstream programming...