Epictetus - "Only the educated are free."

~~~
GIL SCOTT HERON the GOD



~~~

GHOSTFACE KILLAH SPEAKS TRUTH (I HOPE THEY DIDN'T REMOVE THIS VIDEO):

In a videotaped message from a tour stop in Norfolk, Va., Wu-Tang Clan member and solo star Ghostface Killah laments the fact that fans are illegally downloading his latest CD, The Big Doe Rehab, rather than ponying up the cash to buy it.

"I thought y'all motherf*ckers loved me man," Ghost said. "You know I go all out for y'all man, and I love y'all man, but y'all n*ggas be hurtin' the kid, because y'all don't wanna go cop our CD, you feel me? Y'all rather download our sh*t, which is cool, whatever whatever, whatever. But it's like come on man. We do this, we spend a lot of time in the studio, and puttin' this work in to come out with no results when we drop our albums and sh*t man."

No slouch when it comes to mathematics, Pretty Toney knows that having over 100,000 friends on MySpace and selling under 50,000 albums in the first go-round doesn't add up.

"So I'm just saying that like 115,000 friends on the MySpace and I get like 30,000 or something like that in the first week, that's not good man, 'cause I know a lot of y'all got my sh*t, but y'all just downloaded it man," he said. "I'm askin y'all to go to the store and buy that. I'm using all these samples trying to put all this sh*t together for y'all man, and y'all n*ggas is still on that bullsh*t man."

Ghost debuted at No. 41 with his latest effort, pushing 35,600 copies in his first week and landing behind the likes of Scarface, Drama and Wyclef Jean. He said that numbers like those may make him quit rapping altogether.

"If y'all really rollin with the kid, snap out that sh*t man," he said. "This is real talk man. It's comin' from your homey man. Y'all n*ggas gonna make me leave the game based on n*ggas doin' sh*t like that man. I thought y'all loved me, man. Go cop that CD man, even if you downloaded that sh*t man, go to the store and cop that man. If you really love your man."

Ghost is even offering "personal meetings" with anyone who brings a CD to a show as proof of purchase.

"When I come to your town, show me that motherf*ckin CD," he said. "Show me the CD and we could all have meetings. I'll take a personal meeting with all y'all n*ggas every time I'm in the town, just bring me a CD to the show me and show me you did that, and I"ll sit there and kick it with y'all. We can get goosed out, whatever y'all wanna do."

"We can all have a pow wow," Ghost added. "But yo, don't front on the kid like that. I didn't front on y'all when I delivered it man, don't front on me like that man."



~~~

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., THE GOD:

1929

January 15 – Michael Luther King Jr. (later known as Martin Luther King Jr.) is born in Atlanta, Georgia to Baptist minister Michael Luther King and schoolteacher Alberta King.

1932

January – King begins nursery school.

1933

Fall – Kings begins first grade.

1934

January – After King’s teacher discovers that he is only five years old, he is expelled from school.

1935

September – King begins second grade.

1942

King begins high school.

1944

September - King begins attending Morehouse College in Atlanta.

1948

February 25 – King is appointed to serve as the assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

June 8 – King graduates from Morehouse with a B.A. in sociology.

September 14 – King begins attending Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.

1951

May – Graduates from Crozer with a bachelor of divinty.

September – Begins studying systematic theology as a graduate student at Boston University.

1953

June 18 – King and Coretta Scott marry at her parent’s home in Marion, Alabama.

1954

September 1 – King is appointed pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

1955

June – King earns his Ph.D.

November 17 – Yoland Denise, King’s first child, is born.

December 1 – Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give her seat on the bus to a white passenger.

December 5 – King becomes the president of the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association. The Montgomery bus boycott begins.

1956

January 30 – King’s house is bombed.

December 21 – The Montgomery buses are desegregated.

1957

January – The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is formed, and King becomes the president.

February 18 – King is on the cover of Time magazine.

March 6 – Visits Ghana in West Africa.

May 17 – At the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom at the Lincoln Memorial, King’s delivers his first national address entitled, “Give Us The Ballot.”

October 23 – King’s second child, Martin Luther King III is born.

1958

June 23 – King meets with President Eisenhower.

September – King’s book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story is published.

September 20 – King is stabbed by a woman while at a book signing in Harlem, New York.

1959

February – King visits India for a month.

1960

February – King and his family move to Atlanta where he serves as assistant pastor to his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

October 19 – King is arrested at a sit-in in Atlanta.

1961

January 31 – King’s third child, Dexter is born.

October 16 – King meets with President Kennedy to gain his support for the civil rights movement.

December 16 – King and other protesters are arrested in Albany, Georgia.

1963

King’s second book, Strength to Love is published.

March 28 – King’s fourth child, Bernice Albertine is born.

April – King is arrested after demonstrating in Birmingham, Alabama. While in jail, King writes the widely circulated, “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”

August 28 – King speaks at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at the Lincoln Memorial where he delivers his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

1964

January 18 – King meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson

March 26 – After King’s press conference, he meets Malcolm X.

June – King’s third book, Why We Can’t Wait is published.

June 11 – King is arrested in St. Augustine, Florida for attempting to eat in a white-only restaurant.

December 10 – Wins the Noble Peace Prize.

1965

March 17 – 25 – King and other protestors march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights.

1966

June 7 - After James Meredith is shot and wounded, King, Floyd McKissick, and Stokely Carmichael resume Meridith’s “March Against Fear” from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi.

1967

June – King’s fourth book, Where Do We Go From Here? is published.

1968

March 28 – King leads striking sanitation workers in a march in Memphis, Tennessee. The march erupts in violence.

April 3 – Back in Memphis to lead another march with sanitation workers, at a rally at Mason Temple, King delivers his last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.”

April 4 - While standing on the balcony of his motel, King is shot and killed.

April 9 – Buried in Atlanta.

~~~

MLK:

At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, a shot rang out. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had been standing on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, now lay sprawled on the balcony's floor. A gaping wound covered a large portion of his jaw and neck. A great man who had spent thirteen years of his life dedicating himself to nonviolent protest had been felled by a sniper's bullet.

Violence and controversy followed. In outrage of the murder, many blacks took to the streets across the country in a massive wave of riots. The FBI investigated the crime, but many believed them partially of fully responsible for the assassination. A man was arrested, but many people, including some of Martin Luther King Jr.'s own family, believe he was innocent.

What happened that evening?

A Dedicated Leader

When Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as the leader of the a Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, he began a long tenure as the spokesperson for nonviolent protest in the Civil Rights Movement. As a Baptist minister, he was a moral leader to the community. Plus, he was charismatic and had a powerful way of speaking. He was also a man of vision and determination. He never stopped dreaming of what could be.

Yet he was a man, not a God. He was most often overworked and overtired. And he had a fondness for the private company of women. And though he was the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner, he did not have complete control over the Civil Rights Movement.

By 1968, violence had edged its way into the movement. Black Panther Party members carried loaded weapons; riots had erupted across the country; and numerous civil rights organizations had taken up the mantra "Black Power!"

Yet Martin Luther King held strong to his beliefs, even as he saw the Civil Rights Movement being torn in two. Violence is what brought King back to Memphis in April 1968.

Striking Sanitation Workers in Memphis

On February 12, thirteen hundred African-American sanitation workers in Memphis went on strike. Though there had been a long history of grievances, the strike was begun as a response to a January 31 incident in which 22 black sanitation workers were sent home without pay during bad weather while all the white workers remained on the job. When the City of Memphis refused to negotiate with the 1,300 striking workers, King and other civil rights leaders were asked to visit Memphis in support.

On Monday, March 18, King managed to fit in a quick stop in Memphis, where he spoke to over 15,000 who had gathered at Mason Temple. Ten days later, King arrived in Memphis to lead a march in support of the striking workers. Unfortunately, as King led the crowd, a few of the protestors got rowdy and smashed the windows of a storefront. The violence spread and soon countless others had taken up sticks and were breaking windows and looting stores.

Police moved in to disperse the crowd. Some of the marchers threw stones at the police. The police responded with tear gas and nightsticks. At least one of the marchers was shot and killed.

King was extremely distressed at the violence that had erupted in his own march and became determined not to let violence prevail. He scheduled another march in Memphis for April 8.

On April 3, King arrived in Memphis a little later than planned because there had been a bomb threat for his flight before takeoff. That evening, King delivered his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech to a relatively small crowd that had braved the bad weather to hear King speak. King's thoughts were obviously on his mortality, for he discussed the plane threat as well as the time he had been stabbed. He concluded the speech with

* 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. And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

After the speech, King went back to the Lorraine Motel to rest.

The Lorraine Motel, (now the National Civil Rights Museum) was a relatively drab, two-story motor inn on Mulberry Street in downtown Memphis. Yet it had become a habit of Martin Luther King and his entourage to stay at the Lorraine Motel when they visited Memphis.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King and his friends were getting dressed to have dinner with Memphis minister Billy Kyles. King was in Room 306 on the second floor and hurried to get dressed since they were, as usual, running a bit late. While putting on his shirt and using Magic Shave Powder to shave, King chatted with Ralph Abernathy about an upcoming event. Around 5:30 p.m., Kyles had knocked on their door to hurry them along. The three men joked about what was to be served for dinner. King and Abernathy wanted to confirm that they were going to be served "soul food" and not something like filet mignon. About half an hour later, Kyles and King stepped out from the motel room onto the balcony (basically the outside walkway that connected all the motel's second-story rooms - photo). Abernathy had gone to his room to put on some cologne.

Near the car in the parking lot directly below the balcony, waited James Bevel, Chauncey Eskridge (SCLC lawyer), Jesse Jackson, Hosea Williams, Andrew Young, and Solomon Jones, Jr. (the driver of the loaned white Cadillac). A few remarks were exchanged between the men waiting below and Kyles and King. Jones remarked that King should get a topcoat; King replied, "O.K."

Kyles was just a couple steps down the stairs and Abernathy was still inside the motel room when the shot rang out. Some of the men initially thought it a car backfire, but others realized it was a rifle shot. King had fallen to the concrete floor of the balcony with a large, gaping wound covering his right jaw.

Martin Luther King Jr. Shot!

Abernathy ran out of his room to see his dear friend fallen, laying in a puddle of blood. He held King's head saying, "Martin, it's all right. Don't worry. This is Ralph. This is Ralph." *

Kyles had gone into a motel room to call an ambulance while others encircled King. Marrell McCollough, an undercover Memphis police officer, grabbed a towel and tried to stop the flow of blood. Though King was unresponsive, he was still alive - but only barely.

Within fifteen minutes of the shot, Martin Luther King arrived at St. Joseph's Hospital on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face. He had been hit by a .30-06 caliber rifle bullet that had entered his right jaw, then traveled through his neck, severing his spinal cord, and stopped in his shoulder blade.

The doctors tried emergency surgery but the wound was too serious. Martin Luther King, Jr. was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. He was 39 years old.

* Ralph Abernathy as quoted in Gerald Posner, Killing the Dream (New York: Random House, 1998) 31.

~~~

THIS GUY IS JUST FUCKING AWESOME:

Cadence Weapon 24.01.08
»I want to escape definition«

HHV: You described your new album as “Hip House, except it’s not shitty”. Are you afraid that your Hip Hop-oriented fans might be unable to relate to it?

Cadence Weapon: I wouldn’t be surprised if I weirded out some of my core fans, but that’s something that people will have to deal with when it comes to me. I’m always going to make music that is completely different than the previous record. I never want to get pigeonholed as the video game rapper or the hip-house rapper or whatever. I want to escape definition like someone like Bob Dylan or David Bowie.

HHV: Would you say that “Afterparty Babies” combines all the ingredients of current dance and electronic music you like (e.g. Wonky shit, abrasive synths, Niche-stuff, Grime, Bmore, etc.) or are there particular subgenres or artists you would consider especially important for how the album turned out to sound?

CW: The approach for much of the album was to try and make something like a Basement Jaxx record with rap on it. I’d say 75% of the album fills that promise, the rest is more traditional rap with a completely folk oriented song opening the album. I’d say the common thread with the record is that it’s instilled with the culture of storytelling as an oral tradition.

HHV: I know artists just LOVE those questions but anyway: what’s up with the album title?

CW: When I say my dad at some grown up parties when I was a kid, he’d say “Rollie over there? He’s definitely an afterparty baby!”. I took this as meaning I was a mistake, but my mother has recently let me know that I was planned, my conception just happened to be after a party.

HHV: Have you decided what you’re gonna do with the Jammer beat yet?

CW: Not quite yet. I think it’s gonna be about people getting killed around here in the Winter time. I have a feeling he can relate.

HHV: Are there any other guest producers or featured artists on this album?

CW: There is one beat by DJ Nato, a Hip Hop producer from Edmonton, but the rest is by me.

HHV: You used to do quite a lot of remixes but aside from those Sally Shapiro and Busdriver remixes I don’t remember hearing a remix from you in the last year or so. Is this a consequence of you being busy with your new album and extensive touring or have you got tired of remixing?

CW: I’ve been really busy with touring and I haven’t had a chance to get a setup where I can produce on the road. It’s been frustrating because it’s hard to keep up with demand while also making music that I’m proud of.

HHV: I read a while ago that you were working on a Billy Joel cover. I think I got a rather vivid imagination but I have no clue what a Cadence Weapon cover of “Movin out” would sound like. Where can I hear this?

CW: I actually did this cover at the going away party of my friend Juliann Wilding with a band from Edmonton called Illfit Outfit and her husband Henri Faberge. It’s one of my favorite songs though, perhaps I’ll adapt it for my show. There is a song on the album in Juliann’s name as well.

HHV: You’ve also been DJing a lot lately. Is that something you could see yourself doing even more in the future?

CW: DJing is probably my favorite thing to do. My dad was a DJ and it’s really manifesting itself in me these days. I feel like dancing is one of the oldest, purest social traditions there is and I love being a part of it. It’s also helped the way I view music. Knowing that you can mix together two seemingly separate genres of music and make them come together naturally, it’s a really spiritual feeling. I want to DJ as much as possible. My fantasy these days is to play Fabric and do a FabricLive mix.

HHV: I don’t want to dwell on your history as a Pitchfork writer too much but were there other reasons apart from focusing on your career as a musician why you quit writing for them?

CW: Well, I got fired, but I got fired because I was obviously losing interest in the writing cycle they had going. I was getting sloppy and missing deadlines. But largely, this is because I wanted to really get serious about my own music instead of criticizing other people.

HHV: With a steady decline of interest in “Indie” Hip Hop, what do you think are the main reasons that your career has flourished so fast in spite of the current musical climate?

CW: I feel like it’s because I make music that is original. The underground rap that I love was always about pushing boundaries or approaching music from a different view. Nowadays it seems like rappers are in a rut or they are constantly making the same thing over and over. It’s replicating the problems of the commercial rap world and losing sight of the advantages of being in the underground. You can do whatever you want, so why don’t they?

HHV: What has been the most impressing encounter you’ve had on tour?

CW: Well, this past year, I managed to meet both Dan Bejar aka Destroyer (who is probably my favorite current song writer) and Prince Paul. I managed to creep out Prince Paul with my Stakes Is High tattoo, but when I met Dave, he was completely unfazed. They must get a lot of that.

HHV: Would you rather get a beat from Timbo or have Daniel Bejar sing on your album?

CW: Dan Bejar singing on my album. I have a feeling that if I got Timbo to make me a beat, it wouldn’t be very thoughtful. He saves his best shit for his pals, I assume. But if Timbo is listening, I would love to get a beat from you, buddy.

HHV: Best live-act you’ve ever shared a stage with?

CW: De La Soul. I played with them in Vancouver and the way they’d present songs was just so smart. They got everyone to go “AHH” when they went AHH and then they mixed in “Ego Trippin’” and the crowd went fucking insane. Total pros.

HHV: Best DJ set you attended in 2007?

CW: DJ Assault. He was doing doubles and mixing super fast. He used Serato only for flipping doubles and just did it super old school and relentless. It was probably the most fun I’ve had at a DJ night. Diplo also tore shit up in London at the Big Dada party I played.

HHV: You got 30 seconds to tell our readers why Turf Talk made the best Hip Hop album of 2007.

CW: Because it fucking rules. Incredible beats, really varied flows throughout and a consistency I rarely see in rap albums these days. It has a foot in 80s rap too, Turf basically covers a Mantronix song on it. Rick Rock is an underrated producer.

HHV: Are you still obsessed with “Guitar Hero”?

CW: Not so much. My family is really into it now though. At our Christmas celebration, my cousin destroyed me at the game which is a real role reversal. I used to be the only person into video games as a kid and now it’s suddenly super accessible.

HHV: “Real Talk” or “I’m a Flirt”?

CW: Real Talk. WERE THERE OTHER GUYS THERE?!?!? WELL TELL ME THIS, HOW THE FUCK SHE KNOW I’M WITH THOSE OTHER GIRLS THEN??

HHV: Mr. Oizo or Switch?

CW: Mr. Oizo. Tough choice, but I prefer Mr. Oizo’s approach to sampling better. He is good for subtlety and really cool edits. Switch is probably the best out right now, but I prefer Oizo.

HHV: Crookers or Herve?

CW: The dude Herve! Crookers has a big record on Man Recordings that I play occasionally, but I probably play three to four Herve-related tracks every time I DJ. He’s a king.

HHV: J Dilla or Pimp C?

CW: Dilla. I’m not fanatical about either but I’ve played “Donuts” probably a thousand times by now.

HHV: Jneiro Jarel or Flying Lotus?

CW: Jneiro Jarel. I’m late on the Flying Lotus tip, I need to hear that. But JJ is one of the best producers out there, extremely underrated.

HHV: Santogold or Kid Sister?

CW: Tough question, but I’m going with Kid Sister. I wasn’t impressed with Santogold live. I’ve seen Kid Sister tear shit up live multiple times.

HHV: Wiley or Skepta?

CW: Skepta. His lyrics are really good and original and Wiley is disappointing me with these albums. I wish he got back to doing stuff that was really extremely dark. “Wot Do U Call It?” is a classic and still bangs in the club.

HHV: “Person Pitch” or “The Unseen”?

CW: This is a hard one as they are both made with the same sampler, but I’m gonna go with The Unseen as it’s a complete, total classic that changed the way I thought a rap album had to be structured. It’s original and way ahead of its time.

HHV: Bell Biv Devoe – “Poison” or New Order – “Blue Monday”?

CW: “Poison”, for sure. This is the song I learned to dance with!

HHV: Obama or Hilary?

CW: Obama. Hilary gives me this weird evil politician vibe while the homeboy Obama has the Cool Kids play his parties in Chicago and generally shirks the childish insults that usually follow the antiquated political competitive structure.

~~~

HIP HOP HISTORY IN THE RE-MAKING!

Bobbito let the cat out of the bag already, so I'll just add on. For a little while now, we have been planning an event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the last show we did together. It's kind of a dubious milestone but we couldn't do the 10th Anniversary of our first show, 'cause that passed 8 years ago. Maybe we could do a 20th, but that's in two years. Or, we could borrow from Eclipse's book and do an 18th Anniversary. Whatever; we both felt like the time had come to do something together, so the 10th Anniversary of our final show it is. But it won't be a celebration of going our own ways. No, no, no, kids. If I have any say in the matter, this will be a great night in the spirit of what went down at KCR, so expect the unexpected. We are working on getting the line-up finalized, which will include some groups that haven't performed together in ages. I soooo want to mention names, but I can't.

Being that the lineup has not been finalized, I'd love to know what artists YOU would love to see. Feel free to comment.

http://konstantkontakt.blogspot.com/2008/01/stretch-armstrong-bobbito-reunion-jump.html

~~~

www.sohh.com

WHEN KEEPING IT REAL GOES WRONG:

My boy Drew over at drewreports.com just informed me that Uncle Murder was shot in the head recently. Did you guys hear about that? Well apparently he called the Wendy Williams Experience yesterday and gave all the details saying that he was shot in the head last night [Jan 22] in East New York! Luckily, though he is alive and breathing! He even told Wendy that he is using Hennessey and Newports to nurse himself back to health!

~~~

CLASSIFIED TOUR VIDEO PART ONE!



PART TWO:



~~~

MORE MLK:

During the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. captured the attention of the nation with his philosophy and commitment to the method of nonviolent resistance. According to Dr. King, this was the only solution that could cure society’s evil and create a just society. As King emerged as a leader in the civil rights movement, he put his belief into action and proved that this was an effective method to combat racial segregation.

King Studies Nonviolent Resistance
Prior to becoming a civil rights leader, King entered a theological seminary in 1948 where he began to concentrate on discovering a solution to end social ills. He came to the conclusion that the while the power of love was a compelling force when applied to individual conflicts, it could not resolve social problems. He believed the philosophy of "turn the other cheek" and "love your enemies" applied only to conflicts between individuals and not racial groups or nations.

While at the seminary, King also read about Gandhi and his teachings. King was struck by the concept of satyagraha, which means truth-force or love-force. He realized that "the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.”(1) King, however, was still not convinced that nonviolent resistance was a viable method in the United States. His acceptance of nonviolence would come years later during his involvement in the Montgomery bus boycott. It was at this time that King's earlier intellectual realization about the power of love was put into action. As nonviolent resistance became the force behind the boycott movement, his concerns were clarified. He recognized that nonviolent resistance was a powerful solution, and he committed himself to this method of action.

Nonviolent Resistance is Not Cowardly
King believed that there were six important points about nonviolent resistance. First, he argued that even though nonviolence may be perceived as cowardly, it was not. In fact, it was a method that did resist. According to King, a nonviolent protester was as passionate as a violent protester. Despite not being physically aggressive, "his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he is mistaken.”(2)

Nonviolent Resistance Awakens Moral Shame
Second, the point of nonviolent resistance is not to humiliate the opponent, but instead to gain his friendship and understanding. Further, the use of boycotts and methods of non-cooperation, were the "means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.”(3) The result was redemption and reconciliation instead of the bitterness and chaos that came from violent resistance.

Nonviolent Resistance is a Battle Against Evil
The third point King advanced was that the battle was against the forces of evil and not individuals. Tension was not between the races, but was "between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. And if there is a victory it will be a victory not merely for fifty thousand Negroes, but a victory for justice and the forces of light.”(4) Thus, tension only existed between good and evil and not between people.

Nonviolent Resistance Requires Suffering
Fourth, nonviolent resistance required the willingness to suffer. One must accept violence without retaliating with violence and must go to jail if necessary. Accordingly, the end was more important than safety, and retaliatory violence would distract from the main fight. King believed that by accepting suffering, it led to "tremendous educational and transforming possibilities" and would be a powerful tool in changing the minds of the opponents.(5)

The Nonviolent Resister is on the Side of Justice
King's fifth point about nonviolent resistance was that the "universe was on the side of justice." Accordingly, people have a "cosmic companionship" with God who is on the side of truth. Therefore, the activist has faith that justice will occur in the future.

(1) King Jr., Martin Luther, "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence.” The Christian Century 77 (13 April 1960), pp. 439-41.
(2) King Jr., Martin Luther, "Nonviolence and Racial Justice.” The Christian Century 74 (6 February 1957), pp. 165-67.
(3) "Nonviolence and Racial Justice."
(4) "Nonviolence and Racial Justice."
(5) King Jr., Martin Luther, "An Experiment in Love.” Jubilee, September 1958, pp. 11ff.

Nonviolent Resistance Rests on the Power of Love
King's sixth point was central to the method of nonviolent resistance. He believed the importance of nonviolence rested in the fact that it prevented physical violence and the "internal violence of spirit." Bitterness and hate were absent from the resisters mind, and replaced with love.

Agape Love is a Redemptive Love
However, the kind of love King was talking about, was not the affectionate type, but instead the type that meant "understanding, redeeming good will for all men." He further explained that in the Greek New Testament there were three words for love and each had a different meaning. Eros was romantic love and philia was a reciprocal love. Neither of these two types of love were the kind that King advanced. Agape, which was not a passive love, was the kind of redemptive love he referred to. According to King, "It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object. It is the love of God operating in the human heart.”(6)

Agape Love is a Disinterested Love
Additionally, it was a love that was disinterested. The act of loving was not for one's own good, but for the good of another. It did not distinguish between worthy and unworthy people or friends and enemies. Furthermore, it was love that fulfilled the need of another person. A person was in greatest need of love when a sinner. Therefore, he believed that "[s]ince the white man's personality is greatly distorted by segregation, and his soul is greatly scarred, he needs the love of the Negro. The Negro must love the white man, because the white man needs his love . . ."(7). Therefore, one should love in order to help those in need.

Agape Love Preserves and Creates Community
King also believed that agape love sought to preserve and create community. As a result, no distance was too far to travel in the attempt to restore community. Agape was,

... a willingness to forgive, not seven times, but seventy times to restore community. The cross is the eternal expression of the length to which God will go in order to restore broken community. The resurrection is a symbol of God's triumph over all the forces that seek to block community. The Holy Spirit is the continuing community creating reality that moves through history. He who works against community is working against the whole of creation.(8)

Thus, hateful responses promote a broken community. Instead, one must respond to hate with love in order to avoid becoming depersonalized and to fix a broken community.

Agape Love Sees No Color
Lastly, agape means that every aspect of life is interrelated. All men are brothers and by harming another, it is to harm oneself.

Martin Luther King was a man who believed that the power of love, which was essential to nonviolent resistance, could be the most effective weapon against the social ills of society. Throughout the civil rights movement, he promoted resistance that was nonviolent, and in the end, it proved to be the most successful method against an unjust system of racial segregation.

(6) King Jr., Martin Luther, "An Experiment in Love.” Jubilee, September 1958, pp.11ff.
(7) "Experiment in Love"
(8) "Experiment in Love"

Books by Martin Luther King:

# Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, (New York: Harper & Row, 1958).
# The Measure of a Man, (Philadelphia: Pilgrim Press, 1963).
# Why We Can't Wait, (New York: Harper & Row, 1963).
# Strength to Love, (New York: Harper & Row, 1963).
# Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? (New York: Harper & Row, 1967).
# The Trumpet of Conscience, (New York: Harper & Row, 1968).

~~~

Well, changes are a comin... you'll feel them when they arrive.
peace to yesterday, god bless Gracious Clarity. I love you in ways that words are too cheap to try and touch.
peace to Diane, Rosemary, Laura, Tanya, and Alex and Treesap, I love you all! It was great to go see the big homie George Strombouloupolous at CBC, and peace to Rodrigo!
also peace to EVERYONE at the Kenya benefit concert last night... including King Kamau. He's the fucking man, and I have no time to be afraid or weak. My heroes couldn't be, now why should I? I must live all the way to the fullest...

time to fly!
bye,
Addi