Saturday, February 13, 2010

Sabbath Lesson for Me

It's Sabbath and I went to church even with the snow.  I am only two exits from church so I have no excuse.  It was nice.  The Mayor of  the City of Atlanta was there being honored as part of our Black History Awards honoring those who have me strides in African American History.  Our mayor is Kasim Reed, he is a young (late thirties) and I guess I can say progessive.  He was voted in after a heated election.  He made a statment using a quote from Dr. King that I had never heard.  I have spent the last hour searching for it online.  It spoke of the next generation of privilege.  I could not find that one however I found a two others that I thought I would share

by Dr. King

I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions. This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream—a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few;..... ; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality. That is the dream...



AFL-CIO Convention, December 1961

and relative to today's climent of the so called Recession
 
When there is massive unemployment in the black community, it is called a social problem. But when there is massive unemployment in the white community, it is called a Depression.


We look around every day and we see thousands and millions of people making inadequate wages. Not only do they work in our hospitals, they work in our hotels, they work in our laundries, they work in domestic service, they find themselves underemployed. You see, no labor is really menial unless you're not getting adequate wages. People are always talking about menial labor. But if you're getting a good (wage) as I know that through some unions they've brought it up...that isn't menial labor. What makes it menial is the income, the wages.

Local 1199 Salute to Freedom, March 1968

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