The Real Dr. King Legacy

Dr. King sacrificed his life so that the struggle could continue. It has now been taken over by Judas goats and "the blind is leading the blind". Our children are being misled. Dr. King should not be only known by "I Have a Dream." Like all runners, Dr. King should be measured by the finish line and not by the starting line.

[Dr. King’s Legacy]

Kwame Ture had great respect for Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.  Black leaders in the United States lost their consciences and their tongues on the question of Vietnam.  Muhammad Ali was an exception.  Like Rosa Parks, Ali also refused to cooperate with evil.

I learned this lesson from Parks and Ali and I employed it in Howard Beach and Tawana Brawley. Without my adherence to their teachings, New York would have never appointed a special prosecutor in either case. The upshot was convictions in Howard Beach and a cover-up in Brawley which still haunts New York.

The cat is out the bag. Tawana Brawley was no “hoax”. Only Abrams said so. This is state-sponsored defamation. Only a grand jury and not a prosecutor is authorized to make a criminal accusation. There was no quorum for the grand jury which was supposedly investigating the claims of Tawana Brawley. Abrams perpetrated a fraud.

About a week ago, Wayne Barrett, formerly of The Village Voice, in the presence of Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, on WBAI-FM, said that Tawana Brawley had perpetrated a “hoax”. No one challenged Barrett who should have known better in the first place.

Dr. King may have gotten Barrett off the hook because of The New York Times v. Sullivan. I am defined as a “public figure.” The Supreme Court permits defamation against public officials and public figures unless the defamatory statements are knowingly false. Thus, Dr. King was permitted to criticize public officials in Montgomery, AL even though some of the accusations were, in the opinion of the High Court, unknowingly false.

This is why the petit jury in Dutchess County exonerated me of my statements against Steven Pagones who was a public official. Justice S. Barrett Hickman tried to muddy the water by instructing the jury that truth was no defense in this defamation case. The jury engaged in jury nullification to exonerate me.

Barrett, Goodman and Gonzalez knew or should have know that a grand jury is an accusatory body. If it had alleged that Tawana had perpetrated a “hoax”, it would have been duty-bound to indict Tawana for, at the very least, filing a false police report.

Revs. Al Sharpton and C. Vernon Mason in addition to myself would have been charged with contributing to juvenile delinquency and a conspiracy. Once the state files a criminal complaint, a criminal defendant is entitled to disclosure of the state’s evidence. This would be a big problem for New York.

By writing the grand jury report, as is violative of Article 190 of the Criminal Procedure Law, state Attorney General Robert Abrams should have been charged with filing a false instrument.  He used this false report to defame myself, Brawley, Mason and Sharpton.

Instead of disclosing the Brawley file to the public, New York has classified it as a state secrets privilege. This is an abuse of the legal process and it never should be authorized to promote a cover-up.  New York’s criminal justice system is bankrupt.  All Blacks should be alarmed.

On the question of Vietnam, Dr. King distinguished himself from leading Blacks. Kwame Ture, among others, questioned Dr. King’s commitment to universal non-violence. If Dr. King were principled, he should have attacked this country’s violent role in Vietnam. He did at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Ture and Cleveland Sellers were in the audience.

This speech on Vietnam failed to get any traction until he repeated it at Riverside Church in Manhattan on April 4, 1967. This was the church that the Rockefeller family had built. They were big in the Republican Party. Daddy King was also a Republican.  No self-respecting Black person in the South would be associated with the Democratic Party.

An anniversary date is important and, in may instances, it is celebrated.  Preachers are aware of the import of anniversaries.  Their congregations reward them handsomely on anniversaries. But on April 4, 1968, Dr. King knew that the jig was up unless he went into hiding. Unlike leading Blacks and all Black elected officials, he was no hypocrite.

In a church in Memphis, Dr. King preached his own funeral on April 3, 1968. The next day, he appeared before a military firing squad on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Anyone who genuinely opposes white supremacy, today, must pay a price.

This was his crucifixion. He died for our collective lack of courage. His speech on April 3, gave us hope that we would get to the mountaintop. Today, leading Blacks and Black elected officials have put minefields on the road to freedom.

Freedom Retreat for Boys and Girls may be the only venue in the United States where our children can learn true lessons of Dr. King. The truth is barred from public schools that major in mythology and minor in illogic.

Because of compulsory education laws, the window of opportunity for our children to attend an African-centered summer camp  is limited, annually, to July and August.  In other words, an African-centered education has only two months to off-set white propaganda. The other alternative is afternoons or weekends.

White supremacists will never teach Black children the truth. It would overthrow the Negro morontocracy which was established 400 years ago to subjugate Blacks. Steve Biko said it best: “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the minds of the oppressed”.

Blacks have limited options on MLK holiday. They can spend money in white enterprises or they can baptize white racists in various venues and especially in Harlem. This violates the principles of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. MLK holiday has become a public relations gimmick.

Every leading Black and every Black elected official must announce a clear and well-defined philosophy which can be applied to any situation. Dr. King had a philosophy for the civil rights struggle. In a personal struggle with whites, on the other hand, he embraced the Second Amendment.

Dr. King sacrificed his life so that the struggle could continue.  It has now been taken over by Judas goats and “the blind is leading the blind”. Our children are being misled. Dr. King should not be only known by “I Have a Dream.” Like all runners, Dr. King should be measured by the finish line and not by the starting line.

“Speaking Truth To Empower.”

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