Where would MLK and America be if MLK hadn't been assassinated?

I don't think there would be too much difference in race relations. MLK was winding down his civil rights efforts by the time he was assasinated. He would probably just have gone back to preaching exclusively

 

MLK was planning a giant Socialist movement. He was going a bit nuts at the end and drinking heavily. He wanted to create a tent city in Washington for the poor until Congress guaranteed them a job. I bet that would have worked out well...

 

I have no idea, but I do wonder sometimes where he would stand on those issues. You often hear conservatives weigh in on issues like affirmative action and say things like MLK would be against these programs. I think its funny anyone would claim what type of stand someone who died forty years ago would take

 

I have no doubt the country would be much better off if MLK had not been assassinated, as his ability to mobilize mass movements would have put significant pressure on the system as a whole for social and economic progress. However, his status as an icon would have suffered. Wingnuts today would be screaching about about race baiting and socialism, just as they did when he was alive. With MLK safely dead they can pretend that they support his message.

 

I think he would have been a lot richer. Why is mlk blvd always in the worst part of the town?

 

Any proof of this? I've never heard this claim before.

[EDIT] Nevermind. I found some articles on the tent city idea. Still nothing on your allegations that he was losing it, drinking heavily, or planning a Socialist movement. That's a bit different than just trying to help the poor get justice.

 

Sometimes someones legacy is enhanced by their assasination.

Many of us may not have listened to his works or read his words or be talking about him today if he was still alive.

Is it possible he would have faded some? That his legacy and his words have more power now because he was killed when he was?

 

I didn't want to say this because i didn't want it to appear that I'm happy he was assasinated. He did have a family and all, but there is definitely some truth to this, the fact that he pretty much died for the cause makes his legacy that much stronger. kind of like lincoln's

 

I have either. I know he was focusing more later in his life on economic justice issues.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People's_Campaign

http://baltimorechronicle.com/2008/040408Floyd.shtml

http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/Content/2005-01/18bezruchka.cfm

 

I think MLK would have been marginalized like every other black leader has been over time. King was very radical, he trashed the Vietnam War, and Johnson kind of flipped on him because of it. He basically trashed capitalism in the form we had it in this country. He was about to start a campaign for the poor when he was killed. He definitely supported reparations as he often referred to the GI Bill as an example for how it could be done.

I think America might be different if some of his initiatives for the poor would have taken hold.

 

Could you quote the parts about him drinking heavily and going "nuts."

 

King became depressed at times, Branch said. One night, King -- alone with a whiskey -- awakened friends in adjoining hotel rooms with his shouting: "I don't want to do this anymore! I want to go back to my little church!"


http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/04/01/mlk.final.crusade/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

 

And yet he continued to do it.

 

There is a Boondocks episode on this subject - its about 20 minutes, but it is pretty good (as is true of every Boondocks episode).

<div><embed src="http://www.livevideo.com/flvplayer/embed/14173AD800444081BAC5B847EF63A14C" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" WIDTH="445" HEIGHT="369" wmode="transparent"></embed><br/><a href="http://www.livevideo.com/video/embedLink/14173AD800444081BAC5B847EF63A14C/543044/the-boondocks-return-of-the-.aspx">The Boondocks - Return of the King</a></div>

 

I think the country would be better.

Would he still be as admired? There would have inevitably been a period when his influence and energy waned. But if he were still alive today, I think he'd be up there as people evaluated his life as a whole.

He was not just a preacher. He knew how to move society and play political hardball with the best of them. His overriding concern was injustice of all kinds, so I'm a little perplexed when people want to confine him to just a civil rights/marching kind of box.

 

Agree with Rim.

Perhaps he would have gone on to accomplish even greater things. Perhaps not. But with the drive, vision and influence he demonstrated while he was alive how could he not have continued to have a positive influence?

 

In Austin, it starts just north of the Capitol and south of the University. Museums line it in that area, in places. Then it continues into East Austin, which is starting to be "gentrified" these days, depending on the location. Would he be rich? I have no idea. I would like to think he would be, because he deserved to be, in my opinion, but who knows? I still remember when he was killed. It really "blew the doors off" the country. A bad time.



Trim Bush.