Yahoos protest

[Rickster71]

I've got a question, did he write all his speeches? Or did he borrow?

Martin Luther King plagiarized (borrowed)his famous "I Have a Dream" speech? Let's take a look.
Critics have charged that King plagiarized that too by borrowing from a speech given to the Republican convention in 1952 by an African-American preacher named Archibald Carey, Jr.
Some of them say he gave Cary's speech word-for-word.
It can probably be said that King borrowed from the idea of the speech by Carey (who was a friend of King's), but only the last couple of paragraph's resembled Carey's speech and little of it is word-for-word.
Both men spun their remarks off the words of the song "My Country 'Tis of Thee."

King's speech ended with:
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Carey's speech ended with:
We, Negro Americans, sing with all loyal Americans: My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, Land of the Pilgrims' pride From every mountainside Let freedom ring!
That's exactly what we mean--from every mountain side, let freedom ring. Not only from the Green Mountains and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire; not only from the Catskills of New York; but from the Ozarks in Arkansas, from the Stone Mountain
in Georgia, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia--let it ring not only for the minorities of the United States, but for the disinherited of all the earth--may the Republican Party, under God, from every mountainside,
LET FREEDOM RING!

 

[Johnd]

Well, then they're both plagiarizers!

Of the song "My Country 'Tis of Thee".

I call that not plagiarism, but blatant incorporation of a patriotic song. Unless I'm missing something here.

 

[Rickster71]

Well, then they're both plagiarizers!

Of the song "My Country 'Tis of Thee".

I call that not plagiarism, but blatant incorporation of a patriotic song. Unless I'm missing something here.

OK, fair enough.
MLK isn't a 'lifelong plagiarist', he's a 'lifelong blatant incorporator'

 

[Johnd]

OK, fair enough.
MLK isn't a 'lifelong plagiarist', he's a 'lifelong blatant incorporator'

Well, much of your quote incorporates the song "My Country." Obviously so. And they (MLK and Carey) have simply rewritten some of its' prose. I see it as that...not plagiarism.

 

[Rickster71]

Naive? No.
Let us not forget how "completely American" and true his message was. And how incompletely American are those that refute his ideals.

We can have our differences. We can even have our dislikes. But toleration and equal rights are are necessary ingredients per the Declaration of Independence. ...completely American.

John, my intent isn't to undermine your belief system.
Though, keep in mind, the learning process is lifelong;
even if it chips away at preconceived notions.

 

[Johnd]

John, my intent isn't to undermine your belief system.
Though, keep in mind, the learning process is lifelong;
even if it chips away at preconceived notions.

Rickster, all I can say to that is ???

What does that have to do with my reply in post #144 above:

"Well, much of your quote incorporates the song "My Country." Obviously so. And they (MLK and Carey) have simply rewritten some of its' prose. I see it as that...not plagiarism."

 

[Rickster71]

Rickster, all I can say to that is ???

What does that have to do with my reply in post #144 above:

My bad, for not being more clear.
I meant it to address our overall discussion.

 

[stratman]

Well King had the right motives and actually did promote change, my beef is with the dross that came after his death feigning to carry his mantle, i.e. Sharpton and Jackson.

 

[Johnd]

Well King had the right motives and actually did promote change, my beef is with the dross that came after his death feigning to carry his mantle, i.e. Sharpton and Jackson.

I wouldn't exactly put all three in the same barrel. I know what you're saying: they have identified with MLK in the past. But neither JJ or Al is MLK. And maybe we'll see less of the likes of JJ and Al once we have fewer separatist protest on MLK day in an already racially prompted town...let alone anywhere USA.

So my point was: MLK day, and a separatist protest on MLK day. What does JJ or Al have to do with that? Let MLK stand alone, and the MLK protest stand alone. There is no denying that JJ and Al are faulted men. That's not what I was pursuing here.

 

[Rickster71]

I think MLK was a well intentioned man.
My contention lies in wondering why so much of MLK's information is suppressed, and / or whitewashed.

In January 31, 1977, United States District Judge John Lewis Smith, Jr., ordered all known copies of the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of Martin L.King between 1963 and 1968 to be held in the National Archives and sealed from public access until 2027.

Due to the fact of King's FBI files being sealed.
One wouldn't want to be an MLK apologist, before all the facts come to light.

I guess I'm from the, "If it quacks like a Duck" camp.

 

[Johnd]

I think MLK was a well intentioned man.
My contention lies in wondering why so much of MLK's information is suppressed, and / or whitewashed.

In January 31, 1977, United States District Judge John Lewis Smith, Jr., ordered all known copies of the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of Martin L.King between 1963 and 1968 to be held in the National Archives and sealed from public access until 2027.

Due to the fact of King's FBI files being sealed.
One wouldn't want to be an MLK apologist, before all the facts come to light.

I guess I'm from the, "If it quacks like a Duck" camp.

Truly a conspiracy theorist, aren't you Rickster?

I happen to take a more benign (or sinister, depending on your pov) view:

The man, his issues, his legacy, and particulary his attachment to JFK (and others) made the administration wash their hands of it. There's no great conspiracy, just our affinity for racism and self-proclamation of being better (by fiat) than the "have-nots."