****
Jacqueline Oboomer
Dr. King, always in our hearts
We celebrate his singular life each time we
think of his good works
and the hope and change he brought.
We commemorate his birth in January.
We visit his memorial on the mall
Year-round.
We tell his remarkable story
to the little children of today.
We’d rather leave the marking of the date
he was assassinated in Memphis
to the history books.
But all of it is what we were given
and what he was given.
And, this year, as we recall it was
forty-seven years ago on April 4
that his “four little children”
lost him …
Let us not forget about them
as we rejoice that he belonged to the world
for as long as he did
as we examine the “content of his character”
around the globe, as long as we all still do.
In our minds, we will remember him
and that our voices must keep
challenging the injustices
as we keep yearning for equality for all.
That night,
Robert Kennedy suggested
we dedicate ourselves
to what the Greeks had written
many years before:
“To tame the savageness of man and
make gentle the life of this world.”
A man named Barack Obama,
also in our hearts,
who later
became our President,
surely has dedicated himself to
“taming the savageness of man”
throughout the world
and to a “more perfect union”
here at home.
This year, no matter our religious beliefs
or non-beliefs,
it seems quite fitting somehow,
if only for the history books,
that the date we recall sits between
Good Friday and Passover and Easter
while prayers from other faiths are also
being said,
around the clock,
all over the globe,
in the interests of the human race.
Dr. King, always in our hearts.
Hope and change, always on the horizon,
to “make gentle the life of this world.”
****
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King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Today marks the 47th anniversary of his death. http://t.co/LZmQMF6ydw
—
deray mckesson (@deray) April 04, 2025Today marks the 47th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. May he rest in peace 👑 http://t.co/zOsKGtyR2p
—
Black Girls (@BlackGirlsWinni) April 04, 2025****
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Part of Dr Martin Luther King Jr's last speech, night before 4-4-68: "I've Been To The Mountaintop": youtu.be/Oehry1JC9Rk via @YouTube
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(@JOBoomr) April 04, 2025Today, we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His example pushes us to keep fighting for justice. http://t.co/fo7XnyvJtX
—
The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) April 04, 2025****
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On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated thetim.es/1FsTupv http://t.co/vYpRVdPdyL
—
The Times of London (@thetimes) April 04, 2025****
FURST. LIKE MU.
:lol: Furst-ish.
Simply beautiful post Nerdy, and what gorgeous words from Jacqueline - endless thanks.
Thanks, Chips.
Also, a big big thank you to Ms. J’OB. You rock, Madam!
CA TOD’ers….may want to give this a peek. I’m thinking about this for my own home.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/can-tech-save-californias-green-lawns-n334816
{{{J’OB}}}
DF, I just read this and thanks for posting it on the previous thread. It sounds “smart” and yes, it will have to appeal to those who don’t mind large water bills. We’ll see how in time people begin to take this water crisis seriously.
There’s a chance of rain this Thursday - we’ll see…
Fingers crossed!!
Thanks!
CongrTs amk and df. Third?
WThank you Nerdy for this wonderful post.
You’re welcome, Jackie.
Thanks for this, we must alwaus cherish these words.
Beautiful words J’OB, thank you
Alwaysssss in Our hearts…ty for the post Nerdy
You’re welcome, PF.
Heartfelt Poem JackieO…
In our minds, we will remember him
and that our voices must keep
challenging the injustices
as we keep yearning for equality for all.
Beautiful post NW and Jacqueline! April 4th is always a bittersweet day for us because it’s our anniversary too. #44 today. Blessings to all of you!
Judith, happy 44th anniversary to you & your mister <3
Thanks, GGail!
Happy Anniversary, Judith!
Thanks, Nerdy Wonka!
{{ <3 <3 }}
Thanks, MP!
Wishing you both endless love and abundant blessings Judith. Happy Anniversary!
Thanks, Dudette! Hard to believe it has been this long. We know we are very lucky.
This is one of my all-time favorite speeches of his … can’t get enough of it. Thank you.
yw…your poem is so moving….thank you
I can hardly look at that picture of Dr. King standing on that balcony.
And then seeing the men all pointing to where the shot came from.
I know, Anniebella, so many of us remember vividly where we were, what we were doing, the staggering shock and disbelief, not another one ~ NO. NOT. HIM. 47 earth years may have passed, but that moment is as raw and painful as it was on that day.
I remember there was a time when I could not listen to that I Have A Dream speech without it bringing tears to my eyes.
{{{{{ <3 AB }}}}}
MP, when I look back, I don’t know how we all got through the trauma of the sixties, starting with the assassination of JFK, then MLK, then RFK. There were times when I was in a state of shock, not really able to take in all that was happening. Just when we would recover from one tragic shock, there was another and then another and we were left bereft, not know what to do next. What terrible times.
So true! I was just kid but it hit us all hard. Still remember the tears on my Mom’s face that day. Then just a few months later, Bobby Kennedy.
Danny-walking time, see ya all in a bit - and thank you again Nerdy and Jacqueline.
Anytime, Chiparoooo. :)
Good Afternoon Everybody.
Robert F. Kennedy’s Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination Speech
JER, thank you for posting this today. It’s ironic that Bobby spoke those words in Indy and it bears repeating in Indiana and elsewhere today!
My thinking is that President Obama will have no problem in pulling funding to Israel if it bombs Iran, but more importantly. Netanyahu knows that President Obama is a man of his word, how else to explain Netanyahu running to Boehner for help.
My second son was due on April 4. I went into labor on March 31 and my Mom was concerned that he would be born on April Fools Day. Thankfully he was born on April 2, so we are not celebrating his birthday on that tragic day.
Good timing, Jackie. Happy belated Birthday to your son.
What a beautiful post NW, and marvelous poem, Jacqueline. Those pictures of Dr. King and others on the motel balcony are hard to take….tears keep welling up as I look at them.
Thanks, Carolyn.
Thanks Nerdy for this excellent post, and for posting JO’B’s touching tribute to our great civil rights icon, MLK Jr.
Thank you, HF.
Thank you so much, NW, for including my poem (and for your heartfelt post). And thanks for the other comments about it. It’s hard to feel good on a sunny day like this, thinking of those times, but - as Bobfr said last evening - we MUST go forward. I was 21 years old when Dr. King was assassinated - and carrying my son when Bobby faced the same fate in the outmonths - and everybody else “around” back then knows how we all felt and why we’ll never really get over it. I could “just” carry the sadness in my heart in 1968, but many black Americans (young and old) were feeling the pain of a sword in theirs, still fighting for their civil rights while losing Dr. King, and I remember them today, too.
Thank you so much, Ms. J’OB. You are a beautiful soul, indeed.
Awww … I thank you … you with the beautiful soul.
{{{J’OB}}}
{{{GGail}}}
JOB, you are a person of great gifts and an even greater heart. Thank you for this beautiful and inspiring poem.
Wow, jackieG, thank you so much. And right back atcha, my dear.
Gotta get to sleep! Goodnight.
So MLK died on Maya Angelou’s 43rd birthday. How this must have affected her…
“Martin Luther King Jr., a close friend of Angelou’s, was assassinated on her [40th] birthday (April 4) in 1968. Angelou stopped celebrating her birthday for years afterward, and sent flowers to King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, for more than 30 years, until Coretta’s death in 2006.”
http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388#later-successes
Oh yes,I stand corrected - it was her 40th birthday, not 43rd. Thanks for this interesting snippet JO’B! :)
This was a beautiful post. thank you.
47 years and it seems like yesterday. I was 17. The Detroit riots had happened the previous year. They called all the students in my high school down to the auditorium to announce the news of his death. That was a mistake: my high school had about 6000 students and we were really stuffed in there. Someone pulled a fire alarm and we all struggled to get out of the building. My high school was downtown and tensions were high. Many students, including me and my friends, choose to catch the city bus and go home. The shock was incredible. I think this affected me more than President Kennedy being shot. I was only 13 at that time. Recently my Bible study group has been looking at the prophets and it has become clear to me that Dr. King was nothing less than a prophet in our own time. A true Biblical prophet driven to deliver God’s message to our broken world. He understood that his message of freedom was important for everyone; in freeing black people from the bonds of prejudice, he also freed white people from the bonds of hatred. Or rather he gave them the opportunity to free themselves and the saddest thing is how many chose to remain in that bondage. He died but his message continues to inspire us toward a better world. I am so blessed that I was old enough to live during his time, just as just am to be sharing this earth with Barack Obama. Dr. King has been with his Lord for 47 years and will be for eternity. Well done, good and faithful servant.
More tears. Beautifully written.
I’m four years older, and I remember a similar sad day when I was in high school in 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated. It was a Catholic school and to say the nun who was our principal seemed unusually “stern” would be an understatement. When we heard HER on the p.a. system, announcing that our President had been shot, and CRYING through her words … well, that was the start of that grieving process for us, which none of us - old enough to be able to take it all in - will ever forget, either.
Parts of the ’60s were great … these others were definitely not. Just how, apparently, the early 21st century is turning out to be.
As you said, this is one of the reasons we all respect and admire President Obama for his pronounced audacity of hope and personal resilience. He’s amazing.
Being just that much younger I was shocked but I didn’t have as much of a personal emotional reaction. I think I reacted mostly to the actions and feelings of the adults around me.
Beautifully said, Mary, and filled with truth.
Thank you, Jackie.
Heading to the Duke game….a little present for Chips :)
LOVE that free kick!
I gotta tell you. That’s a country with a lot of beautiful women.
Dad gum WordPress moderator got me….I’m out :(
You’re free now.
Good read
There is no “if” about it, Zbiggy. We see you doing MSNBC propaganda, expressing doubt.
Sour faces on all of the puppets when deal announced and screeching about they don’t have the details. Uh—yes they do. They just can’t conceed an inch. Fundraising and hatemongering is what they do.
Three long months of this crap. My hope is that the negotiators and scribes can get the written version signed and sealed sooner rather than later.
i did not take it that way…i think that just as the President says…nothing is guaranteed…Zig agrees and says that this is the best option (the deal) of all available..
You may be right, pf. Nothing is ever guaranteed. I think PBO’s modesty and careful phrasing is wise.
Nevertheless, the deal is a big home run. The details are stunning about how much Iran has agreed to. An international committee will oversee the dismantling of the Arak plant and its transformation to peaceful uses. This was the plant Israel expressed the most worry about. There will be extensive steps to be taken to insure compliance. At all the nuclear sites.
The Iranians dancing in the streets have the right idea. I bet Russia and China aren’t suffering from a negative campaign of Right Wingers, either.
The pundits expressing doubt are being paid to do so or haven’t bothered to read the info the WH has provided. Or both.
This is very close to a done deal and it is a shame we need to pretend otherwise to soothe the ruffled feathers of sore losers. In a saner universe, not dedicated to destruction and hate we could be celebrating unequivocally too.
yes it is very close…and once the deal is done….there will be even more dancing in the street…..
Part of the #ReclaimMLK….in Philadelphia
Think I’ll go ponder this for a while. Ha. Later.
Tomorrow would have been my Aunt’s 84th birthday, I miss her so much she was like a 2nd mom. Thank you all for giving us your remembrances as to where you were on the horrible day. Thank God for Bobby Kennedy who’s speech kept folks calm only to loose him two months later, our last hope of peace and sanity with an out of control war and so much turmoil. So much good music came about due to these wonderful men. We had to wait until 2004 when a young state senator from IL spoke at a Democratic convention to eventually run for President in 2008 to bring us home and to be re-elected to usher in PEACE.
P.S. I have not seen posts from HZ. If you are lurking HZ we miss you and hope you are doing well. :) :)
What a coincidence, Jojo! I was on the road earlier today and the fact I haven’t seen HZ in a while popped into my mind. I also hope she is okay.
I wish some network would pay me for tweeting meaningless information over and over again.
Israel is playing a very dangerous game by so openly attempting to undermine PBO and standing in the way of peace. First rejecting 2 state solution and now conspiring to sabotage a historic deal with Iran, Israel is opening itself to more hatred and is in real danger of losing US protection from the world’s wrath at the UN. While Iran helps us fight ISIS, Israel works to undermine our foreign policy. In so brazenly showing its control of our Congress, it runs the very real risk of turning the American people, who unlike cngress is not bribed by AIPAC, against Israel.
Bibi is furious the PBO blew up his hustle. Netanyahu got a lot of mileage rattling the Iran sabre. Now that there is potentially a seismic shift in the Middle East he’s panicking. Bibi can try it if he wants to but he’ll find out PBO is not the one.
PBO will be hosting the Emirs and Kings of Arab countries at Camp David in a few weeks.
The Blood-soaked Bully will not be present or of any interest whatsoever.
Just back from an Easter Egg Hunt hosted by my Alderman. She’s in a runoff, and I gotta say, the Hunt was a disaster. Not enough eggs for the kids. Only one face painter. Her opponent was there, along with a very strong team, going person to person giving pamphlets about him. He is a supporter of Chuy, and his team made sure that the large portion of Latinos present knew that.
LOL
Wow!
Good Afternoon TOD Family!
The hubby was interviewed by Latin Times regarding the Dave Chappelle incident where he had a banana peel thrown at him. The perpetrator is a moron who still doesn’t seem to get that his behavior is wrong and offensive. He’s gonna roll up on the wrong person one day…and that’s all I have to say about that.
Correction: Hubby is former Pres. of our NAACP branch.
http://www.latintimes.com/dave-chappelle-hit-banana-peel-new-mexico-show-christian-england-assailant-apologizes-307179
Beautiful piece, J’OB! I’m in tears!
Good Afternoon or evening, TOD.
Jacqueline O’B, great poem about MLK, and our President.
Happy Easter & Passover for those that observe those holidays. Our Easter, Greek Orthodox, isn’t celebrated until next Sunday.
In state legislatures around the country, boilerplate ALEC legislation that dilutes collective bargaining rights, blocks Americans from voting, and limits corporate liability is passing without the public knowing who’s behind it.
Brilliant Post. Wow.
Hello TOD.
Congrats to all Au, Ag and Bronze :star: winners……..starting with this Fantastic Post and several posts back.
U2’s tribute to MLK
I always remember Maya Angelou today too. She was born on this day in 1928 and her Friend MLK was assassinated in her birthday.
3 Times A Lady…..
Gorgeous.
i really this photo…
Nerdy’s new post
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/04/04/happy-birthday-to-the-phenomenal-maya-angelou/