tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post337461512164130411..comments2024-03-29T05:03:05.347+02:00Comments on Dispatches from Vilnius: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.James Fergusonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-752353394379969772010-01-20T08:20:01.679+02:002010-01-20T08:20:01.679+02:00What galled many blacks is that these same "f...What galled many blacks is that these same "freedoms" weren't extended to the public at large.James Fergusonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-78426221510286869242010-01-20T08:19:20.492+02:002010-01-20T08:19:20.492+02:00The military was the first to be integrated during...The military was the first to be integrated during Truman's time. Even before that, the North enlisted black troops into their army to fight the Civil War. Reading Madison, he was willing back then to grant blacks their freedom if they fought in the states' militias during the War of 1812, but of course Southern militias weren't about to enlist blacks. I guess when it comes to war,James Fergusonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-83103374624301064022010-01-20T01:51:43.359+02:002010-01-20T01:51:43.359+02:00My book has shipped so should have it early next w...My book has shipped so should have it early next week.avrdshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07997163948247445009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-89639923407838504882010-01-20T01:51:01.985+02:002010-01-20T01:51:01.985+02:00You are probably right, Rick.
I was more respo...You are probably right, Rick. <br /><br />I was more responding to King's point that fighting the Vietnam War was falling predominantly on the poor, and particularly on America's black population. <br /><br />Now you look at young recruits and a lot of them are coming from middle America (a friend's daughter enlisted, for example), because there are no jobs and they can't avrdshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07997163948247445009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-29023859127518303302010-01-20T01:00:35.190+02:002010-01-20T01:00:35.190+02:00avrds -- Are we really an equal opportunity milita...avrds -- Are we really an equal opportunity military machine? I certainly don't think so, nor do I believe we ever will be short of instituting mandatory military service for all. Most members of our armed forces are still coming from the same kinds of neighborhoods and locales they've always come from.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01343768762996537750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-35144186218257899282010-01-19T17:56:13.804+02:002010-01-19T17:56:13.804+02:00I agree -- look what it did for George W. But see...I agree -- look what it did for George W. But seems like a great nation should unite around other things than killing people and occupying their countries, but then that's just me I suppose... <br /><br />I found the opening of Wills' book at Google, which sets the stage and sort of brings back my reading, but not enough to add to the discussion (the way I read it, he sees the alleged &avrdshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07997163948247445009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-63094965147847816722010-01-19T16:34:36.944+02:002010-01-19T16:34:36.944+02:00You'll discover in reading Madison, just how p...You'll discover in reading Madison, just how powerful war can become in uniting a nation, especially if scores a victory like it did in 1812. It certainly made the generally pacificist "Republicans" more military-minded after the war, with Madison investing heavily (relatively speaking) into the Navy, West Point and National Army.James Fergusonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-43098540035227023522010-01-19T15:41:23.339+02:002010-01-19T15:41:23.339+02:00Living in the South, I'm sure you see a lot mo...Living in the South, I'm sure you see a lot more of that than I do. But there does seem to be a conscious effort to silence (or maybe just to forget) the anti-war King. That's a shame because his words are as powerful now as they were then. <br /><br />But now we're an equal opportunity military machine. Some of these young recruits -- black and white -- are probably coming from avrdshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07997163948247445009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-32825815215762033942010-01-19T14:22:12.600+02:002010-01-19T14:22:12.600+02:00I seriously doubt that people who don't want t...I seriously doubt that people who don't want to remember King opposed the Vietnam war have much interest in remembering anything else he had to say.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01343768762996537750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-12817954970501381502010-01-19T10:07:35.565+02:002010-01-19T10:07:35.565+02:00It seems people remember what they want to remembe...It seems people remember what they want to remember of someone. Of course focusing on his anti-poverty speeches provides a wider audience to his legacy.James Fergusonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05901612633415337879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9103772230302021699.post-61032771530874880852010-01-19T02:51:57.606+02:002010-01-19T02:51:57.606+02:00I'm always disappointed that King's anti-w...I'm always disappointed that King's anti-war speeches are never remembered in all these celebrations. Talking about the anti-poverty programs he wrote:<br /><br /><br />"...There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I avrdshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07997163948247445009noreply@blogger.com