Salute Martin Luther King, Jr.: Volunteer

January 15, 2010

Obama’s old campaign organization urges people to get out to do service to their communities this weekend, to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  An e-mail from the campaign urges:

Ed —

Throughout the country, Organizing for America volunteers and staff are planning service events for this Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend.

It’s a great chance to come together, spend time with friends and neighbors, and help create a more just and equal world as we honor Dr. King this weekend. I hope you can come out and take part in an event near you.

Sign up to participate in a Martin Luther King Jr. service event in your area. No experience is necessary and it’s a great way to give back.

Martin Luther King Jr. gave so much of his talent and energy to his family and community, his neighbors and friends. I hope you will continue in that grand tradition as we honor him this weekend.

Like so many of you did last year, OFA supporters are joining together in communities all across America — in food banks and shelters, in health clinics and nursing homes.

They’re coming together to remember the great legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and to give back to their communities. There are so many different and fun ways to participate in this weekend of service, I hope you find one that means something special to you.

Please sign up to participate in a service event near you:

http://my.barackobama.com/MLKService

Thank you for your service,

Jeremy

Jeremy Bird
Deputy Director
Organizing for America

I’ve got school projects and Scout projects already lined up; Monday, I may need something more to do, and something more service oriented.

What sort of service are you planning to celebrate the heritage and history of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

2 Comments | Citizenship, Civil Rights, Holidays, Martin Luther King | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

#1 hoax site on the web

July 5, 2009

This may be the #1 hoax site on the web:  Martinlutherking.org. Certainly it is a site dangerous for children, because it cleverly purports to be an accurate history site, while selling voodoo history and racism.

A racist group bought the domain name (note the “.org” suffix), and they’ve managed to keep it.  The site features a drawing of Martin Luther King, Jr., on the first page.  The racist elements are subtle enough that unwary students and teachers may not recognize it for the hoax site it is.

It is both racist and hoax:  Note the link to a racist argument on “Why the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday should be repealed;”  note the link to a hoax page, “Black invention myths.”

Students, nothing on that site should be trusted. Teachers, warn students away from the site.  You may want to use that site as a model of what a bad site looks like, and the importance of weighing the credibility of any site found on the web.

Why do I even mention the racist, hoax site? Because it comes upi #3 on Google searches for “Martin Luther King.”  Clearly a lot of people are being hoodwinked into going to that site.  I’ve seen papers by high school students citing the site, with teachers unaware of the site’s ignoble provenance.

Update: The site is owned by Stormfront, a white supremicist organization.

Here are a few good sites on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; you can help things by clicking on each one of these sites, and by copying this list with links and posting it on your blog:

More resources:

15 Comments | Accuracy, Bogus history, Civil Rights, History, History audio sources, History Methods and Tools, Hoaxes, Libraries, Martin Luther King, Racism, Voodoo history | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Moyers on King, Johnson, Clinton and Obama, and civil rights

January 19, 2008

Moyers keeps the hammer solely on the head of the nail — again.

This video segment from Bill Moyers’ program should be suitable for classroom use — short, covering a lot of civil rights history, with great images.

From the video:

LYNDON JOHNSON: It’s all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.

BILL MOYERS: As he finished, Congress stood and thunderous applause shook the chamber. Johnson would soon sign into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and black people were no longer second class citizens.  Martin Luther King had marched and preached and witnessed for this day.   Countless ordinary people had put their bodies on the line for it, been berated, bullied and beaten, only to rise, organize and struggle on, against the dogs and guns, the bias and burning crosses.  Take nothing from them; their courage is their legacy. But take nothing from the president who once had seen the light but dimly, as through a dark glass — and now did the right thing. Lyndon Johnson threw the full weight of his office on the side of justice. Of course the movement had come first, watered by the blood of so many, championed bravely now by the preacher turned prophet who would himself soon be martyred. But there is no inevitability to history, someone has to seize and turn it.  With these words at the right moment —  “we shall overcome”  — Lyndon Johnson transcended race and color, and history, too — reminding us that a president matters, and so do we.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Just in case you missed Bill Moyers’ Journal on PBS this week.

2 Comments | Civil Rights, History, History images, Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Politics, Presidents, Voting Rights Act | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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