79

Had Martin Luther King been allowed to live, that’s how old he would be today.

Why do we remember this day? We remember it because Martin Luther King is worth remembering and because a whole movement was built to fight for a day in his honour in the United States. After years of fighting for it, Americans won the right to celebrate this great man with a Federal holiday, the third Monday of January.

In honour of this struggle’s success, I offer you Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday, written as a part of the protest.

As I think of our tremendous loss, I think of MLK’s remarks the day before he died:

And they were telling me –. Now, it doesn’t matter, now. It really doesn’t matter what happens now. I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us. The pilot said over the public address system, “We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with on the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we’ve had the plane protected and guarded all night.”

And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.

And I don’t mind.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

You can listen to the full speech in real audio format here. (btw, you can use a program called Media Player Classic to listen if you hate Real Audio’s software.)

Surely these are in part the words that have inspired a song by The Nightwatchman that I keep coming back to, “The Road I Must Travel.” I offer it here, in the hopes that you will all go out and buy a copy of his album, One Man Revolution.

By the way, who is The Nightwatchman? Tom Morello is a Black American musician better known as the prolific guitarist for Rage Against The Machine. He was also a member of Harvard College Class of 1982 who went on to push for revolution instead of just settling into a bobo* lifestyle.

I know that MLK believed that he would be walking with us even once in Heaven. So, I guess I’ll just say thanks man. Thank you for everything I have and for leading people in struggle so that I could have all of the opportunities that I have had. Even in death, you have given life to many.

(*New term that professional geographers are using to denote the emerging creative class, which includes scientists and often artists as well. It is short for “bohemian bourgeoisie.”)

SI SE PUEDE!