April 4,1968 Was The Last Day Of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life!

It's been exactly 41 years since MLK Jr. was assasinated.A lot has changed in four decades.Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil & human rights martyr who did not die in vain.His widely shared dream of commonality & equality among the races has been partially realized with the election of Barack Obama.Americans are still slowly progressing towards making Martin Luther King Jr.'s words an absolute reality.Here's more on what this great man stood for from HNN:

"In late March and early April 1968, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. devoted his organizing talents to a drive to bring the nation's poor people to Washington, D.C. for a series of massive nonviolent demonstrations. King's "Poor People's Campaign" would attempt to unify African Americans, Latinos, and lower-income whites in pressing the Johnson Administration and Congress in an election year to enact a $30 billion-a-year domestic "Marshall Plan" to alleviate poverty. King hoped his latest March on Washington would sustain the momentum of the maturing civil rights movement by broadening its goals to include class grievances. He was also searching for a nonviolent alternative to the wave of riots that had ripped through black neighborhoods in the preceding years. Although King understood the underlying social causes for the uprisings, he believed they were "misguided" as forms of political protest.

With the Poor People's Campaign, King said: "There must be some structural changes now," and "a radical re-ordering of priorities" including "a de-escalation and final stopping of the war in Vietnam and an escalation of the war against poverty and racism here at home." King linked poverty with the waste of resources on the war. (Today, with $10 billion a month currently being squandered in Iraq, King's critique of the Vietnam War still resonates.) The Poor People's Campaign brought together clergy, labor unions, civil rights groups, and college students to create what King hoped to be a lasting coalition with blacks and poor whites. He promised to launch the campaign by bringing a core group of "about 3,000 people to Washington from fifteen various communities," including the entire impoverished hamlet of Marks, Mississippi.

The poor people and their allies would occupy the public spaces of Washington for "at least sixty days, or however long we feel it necessary," King promised. He hoped it would be reminiscent of the March on Washington of 1963. He said the culminating event would take place on June 15 with a massive rally. "We want to provide an opportunity once more for thousands, hundreds of thousands of people to come to Washington," he said. "We hope that all of our friends will go out of their way to make that a big day, indeed the largest march that has ever taken place in the city of Washington."

King said explicitly on several occasions that forging a class-based movement was the goal of the campaign. The "poor white" had been put into a position, he wrote, "where through blindness and prejudice, he is forced to support his oppressors, and the only thing he has going for him is the false feeling that he is superior because his skin is white. And he can't hardly eat and make ends meet week in and week out." (END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest of this great article here.

A NY Gunman Has Killed At Least 12 People At An Immigration Services Center!

For reasons not yet known,a gunman committed mass murder at an immigration center in New York.It is similar to the nursing home killings in North Carolina that left 8 innocent people dead!No one really knows what the motive was for these killings.

Are multiple murders becoming commonplace in our society? I really do wonder what in the hell could drive someone to go on a murderous rampage!This is just tragic & horrendous.At least 12 people have been killed in this latest round of shootings!Here's more on this frightening story from MSNBC:

"Twelve to 13 people were killed Friday when a gunman walked into an immigrant services center and opened fire, Gov. David Paterson said. A federal law enforcement official said the gunman was found dead in the building.

"I speak for all of New York when I offer my prayers for the victims and families of this tragedy," Paterson said hours after the gunman shot several people and took dozens hostage. The gunman first blocked the back door with his car, authorities said.

Two people were seen in handcuffs as they left the building, but NBC's Pete Williams said they were not suspects and that police were simply taking extra precautions as people left the building.

At least 41 people were in the American Civic Association building at the time of the shooting, The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin reported.

The gunman had a high-powered rifle, Mayor Matthew Ryan told the newspaper. Law enforcement sources later told NBC News that several weapons were recovered from the shooting scene."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.

Michelle Obama Is Tremendously Popular In Both London & America!

Michelle Obama gave a heartfelt speech to some very receptive British schoolgirls.They were weeping & squealing with delight when they met the First Lady.This radiant beauty has captured more than President Obama's heart.The world is becoming enthralled with Michelle Obama.Here's more on that from Shine from Yahoo:

"In other Michelle Obama news, recent polls show her U.S. favorability ratings are through the roof (76 percent of us like her, up 28 points since last summer). And, during this, her maiden voyage overseas, the world has continued its obsession with every facet of how she looks. On the trip so far, large crowds have gawked and chanted her name wherever she goes, reporters have asked exhaustive questions about her beauty regimen, and the press have compared her ceaselessly to Jackie Kennedy.

Let's face it, that's a lot to live up to.

More tidbits: She's getting better at giving. According to Time, the Obamas gave the Queen an iPod as a gift; it contained footage of her visit to the United States in 2007 (much better than the unusable DVD's they presented Gordon Brown last month). The Queen, meanwhile, gifted the Obamas "a silver framed photo of herself and her husband, as she does all visiting dignitaries," according to the same source."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.