{"id":1524,"date":"2010-01-17T21:27:53","date_gmt":"2010-01-18T05:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1524"},"modified":"2010-01-17T21:27:53","modified_gmt":"2010-01-18T05:27:53","slug":"martin-luther-king-what-kind-of-extremists-will-we-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1524","title":{"rendered":"Martin Luther King: What Kind Of Extremists Will We Be?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King will be celebrated tomorrow. Last year at this time it was an unusually poignant celebration as it coincided with the inauguration of the nation’s first African-American president. This year the holiday is shared with a much more troubling event: the earthquake in Haiti and its consequent devastation.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the indefatigable hope that always underpinned King’s message can still serve as inspiration to those suffering in Haiti, their loved ones, and every empathetic soul that’s been bruised by unfathomable loss. King himself suffered many hardships in his quest for equality and justice. But his will was never weakened and he had an uncanny ability to turn tribulation into triumph. On that measure he was not ambiguous. From the cell of a jail<\/a> in Birmingham, Alabama, King demonstrated the resolve that continues to serve as an example to us all. His was not a common plea for community service, but a challenge to commit oneself to positive change with the utmost urgency.<\/p>\n

MLK:<\/strong> “So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The audacity of these questions is that they assume that we have already stipulated extremism as the starting point for how we approach advancement or adversity. These days that is a requirement for the success of any public endeavor. If we don’t hit the ground running, our feet will be swept out from beneath us by the reactionaries and obstructionists who favor the status quo. Witness the loudmouthed town howlers, the delusional anti-socialist-healthcare cranks, the Tea Baggers. Because of these mudstickers, our intensity must always be on high. Our dials must be turned to eleven. And we must apply all of our energy and insight to our goals. Because, as Dr. King wrote from the same cell in Birmingham…<\/p>\n

“…the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And it’s still true today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King will be celebrated tomorrow. Last year at this time it was an unusually poignant celebration as it coincided with the inauguration of the nation’s first African-American president. This year the holiday is shared with a much more troubling event: the earthquake in Haiti and its consequent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[210],"class_list":["post-1524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-martin-luther-king"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-oA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6194,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6194","url_meta":{"origin":1524,"position":0},"title":"Will The Fox News\/GOP Debate Remember Martin Luther King Today In South Carolina?","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/16\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Today America is celebrating the birthday of Martin Luther King. It is a fitting tribute to one of the nation's most revered advocates of freedom and justice for all. Today is also the day that Fox News has chosen to broadcast a Republican presidential primary debate from the state of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8890,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8890","url_meta":{"origin":1524,"position":1},"title":"Questions Martin Luther King Might Have Asked Obama On Inauguration Day","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/21\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Martin Luther King, 1967: \"The movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here. And one day we must ask the question, Why are there forty million poor people in America? And when you begin to ask that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40321,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=40321","url_meta":{"origin":1524,"position":2},"title":"Trump’s Martin Luther King Jr Tweet Reveals the Hypocrisy of His Own Hostility to Equality","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/21\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the great ironies in American politics is the rush to embrace Dr. Martin Luther King Jr by the very same people who so adamantly opposed him and his movement. In 1983, 90 representatives (77 Republicans, 13 Democrats) and 22 senators (18 Republicans, 4 Democrats) voted against honoring Martin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Martin Luther King","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-mlk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-mlk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-mlk.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11304,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=11304","url_meta":{"origin":1524,"position":3},"title":"Martin Luther King: And One Day We Must Ask The Question…","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/20\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Martin Luther King, 1967: \u201cThe movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here. And one day we must ask the question, Why are there forty million poor people in America? And when you begin to ask that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Martin Luther King","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/king-questions1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1580,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1580","url_meta":{"origin":1524,"position":4},"title":"Glenn Beck Desecrates The Memory Of Martin Luther King","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/5\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King spoke to over 200,000 people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. He gave what is regarded as one of the most inspiring speeches on behalf of brotherhood, liberty, and the peaceful struggle for equality. He said in part... I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33606,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=33606","url_meta":{"origin":1524,"position":5},"title":"Trump Cancels MLK Day Visit To African American Museum To Spite John Lewis","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/15\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This Monday is the national holiday commemorating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It's a day when the whole country recognizes the contributions of one of America's greatest civil rights leaders. This year, for the first time, there is a Museum of African American History and Culture in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Martin Luther King","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-mlk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-mlk.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-mlk.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}