Moved by the fortieth anniversary of Dr. King's death, I've been reading more about the end of his life, after "I have a dream" and the moments that would come to transcend class and race with a sense of shared history and the belief that the right thing happened for this country as a whole.
This speech on his opposition to the war in Vietnam is staggering, sobering and incredibly off the rails with the cuddly narrative mainstream history has fed us. As I understand it, following this incendiary and blinding speech, King's popularity nosedived. The romance with white America and the media withered with accusations of un-Americanism. He'd be shot dead in Memphis not long afterward.
Chillingly topical and as brave a statement as I've ever heard.

Leave a Comment