HENRY LOUIS GATES, Jr.: [voice-over] This was a different Martin Luther King. Just weeks before his murder, in tones suggestive of the Black Panthers, he began to talk about how the government had broken its promise to the newly freed slaves just after the Civil War. MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr: [1968] At the very same time that America refused to give the Negro any land, through an act of Congress our government was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest, which meant that it was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor. But not only did they give the land, they built land grant colleges with government money to teach them how to farm. Not only that, they provided county agents to further their expertise in farming. Not only that, they provided low interest rates in order that they could mechanize their farms. Not only that, today many of these people are receiving millions of dollars in federal subsidies not to farm, and they are the very people telling the black man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps. And this is what we are faced with, and this is the reality. Now, when we come to Washington in this campaign, we are coming to get our check. [to students] And we want yall to come on to Washington when you get out of school. STUDENTS: Yes, sir. We will. MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr: Were going to have a good time in Washington. HENRY LOUIS GATES, Jr.: The Poor Peoples Campaign was about economics. I mean, what happened to that whole movement? Its almost as if it wasnt-- it disappeared. KATHLEEN CLEAVER, Black Panther Party, Cardozo School of Law: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. It didnt disappear. You might forget, Martin Luther King was assassinated in April. The Poor Peoples Campaign was supposed to go to Washington in April. So the organization that mobilized it was essentially decapitated and thrown into chaos about three weeks before it was supposed to happen. Those organizations were being-- as I said, once the Civil Rights Acts were completed, that was it. Government was through with us. Theyre not interested in restructuring-- there has never been any interest in restructuring the economy for the benefit of the poor. I dont know whether youre going to talk about the Bonus Army, go back to Shays Rebellion? I mean, this is like the no-no, you know. This is a capitalist society. Its built on inequality and avarice, in many ways.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 22:03:25 +0000