(TIME Warp) MLK and Gay Rights!

From Queerty  Jan 19, 2009:

Unfortunately, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we honor today, was assassinated before the gay rights movement became a force on the American stage, so we’ll never know for sure what he may have done to further the cause of gay and lesbian rights had he lived. The person who knew him best, his wife, Coretta Scott King, was certain, however, that King’s legacy was equality for all. To that end, she dedicated much of her time to LGBT equality issues before her death in 2006.

(MY View) A Modern March for Newer Dreams!

by Rashad Robinson

In his autobiography Walking With the Wind, John Lewis describes the morning of the 1963 March on Washington. The most prominent civil rights leaders -- Dr. King, Bayard Rustin, Lewis and others -- were in meetings at the Capitol and realized that the march had started without them. They watched as tens of thousands of people poured into the streets, seemingly leaderless.

"It was truly awesome, the most incredible thing I'd ever seen in my life," Lewis wrote. "I remember thinking, There goes America. We were supposed to be the leaders of the march, but the march was all around us, already taking off, already gone."

That story has stayed with me for years, because it perfectly illustrates the power of a grassroots movement, that tipping point moment where the will of the people refuses to be contained. The energy Lewis witnessed was a groundswell that led directly to the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act and the recently-gutted Voting Rights Act.

(POP NEWS) Gay Milestone; Mixed Bag; Annoyed; Bronzed; Bitch Alert; Censored; Campy; Gaga; Brave; Gen Gap; Gorgeous!

• MILESTONE: Obama Gives 'Most Liberal' Speech Ever!

• MIXED BAG: Stars, Westboro, and Scalia's Weird Hat!

• ANNOYED: Michelle Obama Eyerolls John Boehner!

• BRONZED: The MLK Memorial Isn't So Bad!

• BITCH ALERT: Jill Kelley on Those Threatening Emails From Broadwell!

• CENSORED: Georgia Sued for Banning 'GAYGUY' Vanity Plate!

• CAMPY: Pics Show POWs Performing in Nazi Camp!

• NOT TRUE: Library Moves Armstrong Books ... to Fiction Section!

MOVED: Occupiers March for MLK Day!

Martin Luther King day inspired an Occupy march on New York and more traditional remembrances across the US today. Among the events:

• Hundreds of Occupiers staged an "Occupy the Dream" march on Manhattan, stopping to chant, "The banks got bailed out, we got sold out." At least two protesters were arrested, MSNBC reports. "Dr. King dedicated the last months of his life to planning a campaign for the right of all to a decent-paying job," Occupy said in a statement.

(MY view) What Martin Luther King Day Means to Me!

by Akilah Bolden-Monifa


Martin Luther King Day is much more than a holiday.

I often wonder what those who didn't know the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. think of the man and the holiday. I don't have that problem.

I am a 54-year-old lesbian of African descent who grew up in Huntsville, Ala. My parents strategized and marched with King. I learned about civil disobedience and protests from them when I was 4 years old. I heard them talk of engaging in sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. And they explained to me that we would not be buying new clothes from the segregated stores in town on Easter because King, in conjunction with the local churches, had organized a boycott. If we couldn't shop at these stores by entering the front door, then we wouldn't patronize them.

NO CLASS: MLK Would Be Ashamed (Some) of Us!

If Martin Luther King were to see today's America, would he be proud? Paul Krugman thinks not. King dreamed his children would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Today, we've become "a nation that judges people not by the color of their skin—or at least not as much as in the past—but by the size of their paychecks," Krugman notes in the New York Times . 

And these days, your parents' paychecks look pretty similar to yours. "Goodbye Jim Crow, hello class system." And there's a racial side to this growing American class system, explains Krugman: While in the 1960s and 1970s, "the percentage of black households in the top 20% of the income distribution nearly doubled," that growth came to a halt about 1980—when income inequality started to soar. Income inequality is tied to a lack of social mobility, according to the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; by 2035, he suggests, "the economic prospects of children" will mostly mirror the class they entered at birth. Mitt Romney wants to keep this discussion "in quiet rooms." It's time to follow King's example and "refuse to stay quiet," Krugman writes. Click to read his entire column.

DEFAMED: Misleading Quote Makes King Look Like 'Twit'!

Add Maya Angelou to the chorus of voices who are none too pleased with how the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial turned out. There's already been some hullabaloo over the fact that one of the quotes on the wall by the Tidal Basin wasn't actually uttered by King, but the one Angelou has a gripe with is a little more prominent: It's on the north face of the memorial itself. It reads, "I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness." The line "makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit," she said yesterday. Thing is, that line isn't exactly what he said. It had to be paraphrased following a change in the statue's design, a decision that was made without checking with Angelou, who consulted on the project, reports the Washington Post.