Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King. I remember the impact hearing of his death had on my mother, I remember her sobbing. I was seven years-old at the time and I still remember having nightmares about the assassination for months afterwards. That day in April 1968 marked the beginning of a five month period that would also see the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and the chaos and clubbing that was the Democratic Convention in Chicago. The evening news showed riots and the growing mess that was Vietnam and the world seemed to be coming apart.
To mark this solemn anniversary take some time to listen to Dr. King, and his incredibly powerful speech, “Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam”. Having expanded his fight from Civil Rights to take on the Vietnam war, Dr. King makes the point while we were spending $500,000 to kill each Vietcong soldier, at the same time we were spending a mere $53 on each American in poverty, much of that $53 being spent on the salaries of people not in poverty.
His message against war rings just as true today as it did 40 years ago. It is sad to think how little has changed during that period when it comes to White American men waging unjust wars abroad while forgetting the needs of their own people at home.