By Chase Sydnor
50 years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr (MLK) manifested his era defining, momentous and prophetic ‘dream’ at the Lincoln memorial in America’s capitol. He spoke of a time when people of all colours and creeds would be united in a common bond of humanity, where justice, in the words of the biblical prophet Amos, would, “roll down like waters”. Today, 50 years on, the ‘dream’ needs to be given earnest attention, it is as relevant today as it was at the height of racial segregation and the epoch of the Vietnam war. It seems highly ironic that the first Black President of the United States is making a speech in the same location that MLK made his, and yet time after time contradicts everything the great man stood for by pressing his finger on the button of ‘justifiable violence’….sadly this illustrates the contradictions and duplicity of the world we live in. One can only imagine the feelings and words of lamentation which would spring from the mouth of MLK were he alive today.
Something of MLK’s life work and message has been usurped by the Governments and mainstream media. Watching the BBC today, I could not fail to notice that whilst all the coverage of the 50 year speech focused upon civil rights, hardly anything (possibly nothing) was spoken of MLK’s outspoken views against war and violence. We do the legacy of King a great disservice by simply focusing on his struggle for black freedoms. MLK fought for justice and peace for all. Militarism, Materialism and Racism were MLK’s greatest concerns and they should be ours today.
Martin Luther King Day is celebrated in America around January the 20th of each year. It is a Federal Holiday, so for the bulk of the military, it is an extended weekend ‘liberty’. Once again, the paradox is there for all to see. One of the main highways outside of Camp Lejuene where I was stationed in North Carolina, was named after MLK. What this illustrates is the co-option of MLK by the establishment, which in my view, has led to a watering down of the overall meaning and aims of King’s life struggle. This cannot be allowed to persist! Now is the time to recapture and with real courage, engage properly with Martin Luther King’s dream of a world that does not resort to violence to achieve justice and peace. King fell out of favour and grace with the government after his famous speech when he began to denounce the war in Vietnam. Too often this facet has been ignored by modern history. It is my personal view, that King was assassinated as much for his stance against Vietnam, as for his crusade for black equality.
MLK expressed righteous anger against the fact that while millions of Americans were living in poverty, Billions of dollars were being wasted on imperialistic ventures overseas. With Britain and the U.S making no secret of their contempt for the U.N whilst planning a bombing campaign against Syria, we have to ask what would MLK be doing and saying now. Now more than ever, the dream of MLK needs to be extricated from government hypocrisy and championed by those who wish to truly follow the man in downing the tools of Militarism.
Chase Sydnor is a former US Marine and a member of Veterans For Peace (UK).
Veterans For Peace UK 
The Hollywood machine has always been about ‘sanitising’ reality to the collective illusion. For example the fake “collective moral anguish” that washes away more sinister events as “mistakes” that have been “lessons learnt from” to conjure the further illusion that this has been overcome and we are all much better than that now, when in fact, it’s business as usual and the true “lesson” has been in how to prevent “mistakes” becoming public knowledge.
Chase rightly identifies the processes of selectivity that go on in the sanitisation process as MLK is being steadily iconised into the collective illusion.
As we, as individuals, push out of the bubble of the collective illusion we become separate and once out of the bubble we “see it all” as we come to appreciate how the bubble is created, managed and maintained. However, are we enthralled with the idea that this ‘understanding’ is the means to bring others out of the collective illusion? Is our hope that a vast army of resistance will form as a mass, collective awakening destroys the collective illusion? I believe it’s a feint hope.
Excellent thoughts and articulations by Chase to address the problem of the collective illusion but Carl’s comment points to the reality: the psychopaths at work on their “Full Spectrum Dominance” and their “New World Order”. I strongly suggest viewing Barbara Honegger’s YouTube Video on the Pentagon Attack at Seattle Town Hall Theatre (all the Key words you need). The A&E Truthers have (rightly) put a kind of taboo on the Pentagon Attack because it poses a danger to the cause. However, as much for the excellent analysis and evidence Honegger’s video is important for its excellent appraisal of the situation of the US and its place in the schemes of the psychopaths.
There is at least as much importance in understanding the situation as there is to understanding the illusory bubble that compartmentalises the masses.
Very encouraging all round that people like Chase and Carl are coming together in awareness through the converging entities such as VFP.
Thank you for reminding us how Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy has been distorted. When he stated that the US was the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, that is even more true today. With over 1,000 foreign US military bases worldwide (which does not include the so called Lilly Pads placed in secret strategic locations, the US and allies are on the path to global domination. This is a Pentagon concept called “Full Spectrum Dominance”. This plan that is already on track worldwide would have made Hitler blush.
Carl Rising-Moore
Veterans for Peace, Chapter 49, Indianapolis Indiana