Monday, June 28, 2010

CBC 1967 Massey Lectures by Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1967 Martin Luther King gave five 30 minute lectures about issues of race, politics, social justice and Vietnam. As a wonderful bonus, there were two panel debates following the lectures; the first had several people debate his final lecture and the second was just two people debating the validity of Vietnam and King’s stance on it.
These lectures were interesting to listen to for their content in general, to better understand King’s perspective, to increase my knowledge of history and the context of the 60s and the war in Vietnam.
I found them thought-provoking and inspiring. I do find King speaks a bit slowly (although I realize many find his cadence soothing and almost hypnotizing). Additionally, I understand why he says “we are all children of God” but even understanding that he should not be using as a logical justification for social action (e.g., We should help the poor because we are all children of God). I think he’d be sympathetic to my criticism as in the lectures he actually states he dislikes people who hide behind faith instead of acting better. Same goes for our rhetoric.

Great listen if you can find them.

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