On April 6, 2010, Martin Luther King III, brother Dexter King, and sister Bernice King issued a joint statement, announcing the re-election of Martin Luther King III as President and CEO of The King Center. "It's the right time, and Martin is in the right place to take this great organization forward," Dexter King said in a statement. Bernice King said she is "proud that my brothers and I are speaking with one voice to communicate our parents' legacy to the world." Martin King added, "We are definitely working together. My brother and sister and I are constantly in communication...It's a great time for us." [25] As president of The King Center,
King has been credited [permanent dead link ] with spearheading an innovative "King Center Imaging Project" in partnership with JPMorgan Chase, which is digitizing and photographing an estimated 200,000 historic documents, including his father's speeches, sermons, correspondence and other writings and making the documents available on-line to the world. [26] In addition, King launched "The King Center Audio and Visual Digitization Project " in partnership with Syracuse University which will "preserve and digitize some 3,500 hours of audio and video footage" of his father. [27] He has also developed a $100 million renovation plan to upgrade The King Center's Freedom Hall Complex, the first major improvement in the Center's site and facilities in its 30-year history. [28]
Along with Reverend Al Sharpton and a number of other civil rights leaders, on August 28, 2010, King took part in the 'Reclaim the Dream' commemorative march, marking the 47th anniversary of the historic Great March on Washington. They spoke at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. followed by a reassemblage at the site of the future
Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial location in the center of the National Mall . The event coincided with Glenn Beck 's Restoring Honor rally planned for the same day on the eastern part of the Mall. [29] King wrote a Washington Post op-ed column offering measured criticism of Beck's event:
MLK April 4, 2011 rally
On April 4, 2011, the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of his father, King helped to lead nationwide demonstrations against initiatives to eliminate and undermine collective bargaining rights of public workers in Wisconsin and other states. King led a mass march in Atlanta and spoke to a crowd of supporters at the Georgia state capitol, urging them to "defend the collective bargaining rights of teachers, bus drivers, police, firefighters and other public service workers, who educate, protect and serve our children and families." On November 17, 2011, King and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka co-authored an article for CNN, calling for reforms to end oppressive immigration laws. [31]
In August 2013, King went to Philadelphia, where he joined Mayor Michael Nutter in announcing the city's joining of a national campaign on poverty, jobs and education. [32] To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington , King traveled to Washington, along with other civil rights leaders. [33] On November 21, 2013, King spoke at
DePauw University regarding his memories of John F. Kennedy 's
assassination. [34]
King appeared on MSNBC's "The Cycle" on May 9, 2014. He was asked by co-host
Touré if he believed that Democratic Party has done enough to get the overwhelming support from African-Americans it receives. King's answer is said to have shocked the host. "The party does not do enough," he said. "It's our responsibility to hold the party accountable. And I'm not sure we do that. I think we have to find a way to hold the parties accountable. He went on to say that he believed there should be communication between African-Americans and the Tea Party Movement, saying "the only way you change is you have to be at least communicating". [35]
[36]
Ferguson, Missouri
In August 2014, King addressed the
shooting of Michael Brown and reported that he would come to Ferguson, Missouri .[37] King was present at a rally with Michael Brown's parents on August 17. [38] On an interview with Fox News, King said his father would be "greatly disappointed" with the violence that occurred in Ferguson after the grand jury verdict. [39] King attended Brown's funeral on August 25. [
It’s a man looking over his family during the British Raj in India. There were many cases of cannibalism and he feared someone would try to kill and eat his children or wife. I acknowledge this is a difficult picture to look at— but I included it for a reason. Many people in the US/West aren’t even aware of the terrible famines that swept through India and which are comparable to the holocaust in deaths (an estimated ~30 million people have died in famines in India). This was taken from the Great Famine of 1876–1878, which was far worse than the infamous Bengal Famine. It was caused by a crop failure/drought and was exacerbated by the crown’s export of wheat abroad. In total, 5.6 - 9 million people died (it’s hard to get exact figures). And within huge statistics like these, are forgotten stories. These are individuals and families, who slowly faced the despair of knowing they had no food and would have no food in the near future. They faced the horror of knowing there was
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