MLK: JFK 'Created a Climate of Civil Rights'
After Kennedy's assassination, King said he did not fear death in service of his cause
After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King acknowledged the civil rights movement’s differences with JFK, who had downplayed the issue of racial equality in the first two years of his administration. But King praised Kennedy for offering the most comprehensive civil rights bill ever, the legislation that would become the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. “He created a climate for civil rights,” King said.
When asked how he personally felt about the threat of assassination, King replied he had become “almost immune” to the constant death threats he received.
“I believe that unmerited suffering is redemptive,” he added. “Even if I have to die for this cause, physical death is a price that others have had to pay. That is the price that is paid to free the soul of our nation.”
King was himself assassinated four and a half years later, on April 4, 1968.
Mary Ferrell Foundation: More about MLK’s assassination.
Listen: JFK Facts Podcast with Creators of “Four Died Trying.”
A civil rights sidebar: In the view of lawyer & 2014 MacArthur recipient John Henneberger, who is a close colleague of my spouse’s in the struggle for affordable housing, the Fair Housing Act was signed by Johnson as a direct response to the assassination of MLK. In other words, it seemed a propitiously timed action to quell tension in the African American community.
Tuesday, 19 December 2023 10:11
Counterpunch is at it Again
Written by James DiEugenio
Counterpunch is at it again, smearing President Kennedy on civil rights, Indochina and the economy. We correct the record on all three.
Every once in a long while, Counterpunch will run a decent enough story on the JFK case by someone like Jeff Morley. {{HEY!}} More often the material they run is pretty much useless, and at times, worse than that. This is probably due to the legacy of the late Alexander Cockburn who teamed with Jeffrey St. Clair to edit the ‘zine. Back in 1991, Cockburn took up arms to attack Oliver Stone’s feature film JFK.
For the 60th anniversary, Counterpunch was at it again. On two consecutive days, they ran very questionable articles that can only be called smears of President Kennedy. The first was by Howard Lisnoff on December 6th and the second was by Binoy Kampmark on December 7th.
******* Read the rest here:
https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/counterpunch-is-at-it-again