40 Years Later, (The Late) Martin Luther King Still Silenced

40 Years Later, (The Late) Martin Luther King Still Silenced

By Jeff Cohen

Created Apr 4 2008 - 11:20am

Soon after Martin Luther King's birthday became a federal holiday in 1986, I

began prodding mainstream media to cover the dramatic story of King's last

year [1] as he campaigned militantly against U.S. foreign and economic

policy. Most of his last speeches were recorded. But year after year,

corporate networks have refused to air the tapes.

Last night NBC Nightly anchor Brian Williams enthused over new color footage

of King that adorned its coverage of the 40th anniversary of the

assassination. The report focused on the last phase of King's life. But the

same old blinders were in place.

NBC showed young working class whites in Chicago taunting King. But there

was no mention of how elite media had taunted King in his last year. In 1967

and '68, mainstream media saw Rev. King a bit like they now see Rev.

Jeremiah Wright.

Back then they denounced King's critical comments; today they simply silence

them.

While noting in passing that King spoke out against the Vietnam War,

mainstream reports today rarely acknowledge that he went way beyond Vietnam

to decry U.S. militarism in general: "I could never again raise my voice

against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos," said King in 1967

speeches on foreign policy, "without having first spoken clearly to the

greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government."

In response to these speeches, Newsweek said King was "over his head" and

wanted a "race-conscious minority" to dictate U.S. foreign policy. Life

magazine described the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a communist pawn who

advocated "abject surrender in Vietnam." The Washington Post couldn't have

been more patronizing: "King has diminished his usefulness to his cause, to

his country, and to his people."

When King's moral voice moved beyond racial discrimination to international

issues, the New York Times attacked his efforts to link the civil rights and

antiwar movements.

King's sermons on Vietnam could get as angry as those of Barack Obama's

ex-pastor: "God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war . .

..We've committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world."

In 1967, King was also criticizing the economic underpinnings of U.S.

foreign policy, railing against "capitalists of the West investing huge sums

of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out

with no concern for the social betterment of the countries." Today,

capitalists of the West reap huge profits from their domination of global

media.

Thankfully, we now have the Internet [2] and independent media outlets [3]

where King's later speeches are available for the ages.

If King had survived to hear the war drums beating for the invasion and

occupation of Iraq - amplified by TV networks and the New York Times front

page and Washington Post editorial page -- there's little doubt where he'd

stand. Or how loudly he'd be speaking out.

And there's little doubt how big U.S. media would have reacted. On Fox News

and talk radio, King would have been Dixie Chicked. . .or Rev. Wrighted. In

corporate centrist outlets, he'd have been marginalized faster than you can

say Noam Chomsky.

One suspects King would be marveling at the rise of Barack Obama and the

multiracial movement behind him. But would he be happy with Obama and other

Democratic leaders who heap boundless billions onto the biggest military

budget in world history?

In 1967, King denounced a Democratic-controlled Congress for fattening the

Pentagon budget while cutting anti-poverty programs, declaring: "A nation

that continues year after year to spend money on military defense than on

programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

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Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107

"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

suffering deeply in spirit,

and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have

patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning

back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

stake."

-Thomas Jefferson