by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Since the onset of the Obama phenomenon, Dr. Martin Luther King’s birth and death days have been “polluted” by false and ahistorical comparisons between Obama and MLK. The two men represent opposite political poles: one, a radical opponent of imperial war and concentrated economic power, the other, an ally of Wall Street and commander-in-chief of “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” In focusing on King, the man of peace, Tavis Smiley’s PBS special corrects a history that has been distorted, sometimes beyond recognition – not the least by the revisionist and poseur in the White House.
“I think the movement needs to organize the 93 percent of the work force that is not organized.”
“’Black capitalism’ was a crucial part of President Nixon’s ‘southern strategy’ and the rhetoric and administration of his program is still intact.”
“There can be no ‘black internationalism’ without an attack on imperialism and finance capitalism.”
“For 70 years Israel has been the biggest purveyor of war and chaos in what colonizers termed as the “Middle East.”
