Ladies and gentlemen...this episode may very well be the crown jewel in my speech collection. Indeed, if I had to choose one episode that best describes what I had hoped that the Black Media Archive could be an avenue for, it would be so that words like these could be heard and shared with a modern-day audience. This episode is another speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that was delivered on March 16, 1968, brought to us in the city of Los Angeles at a benefit held by the Men and Women in the Arts Concerned with Vietnam....less than a month before his assassination. If you want to hear an example of the kind of rhetoric that led up to Dr. King being targeted...then you need to hear this speech. We have all heard how we are given a sterilized, non-confrontational portrayal of Dr. King in the years since his passing. Well, this speech is a beautiful example of his ideas, beliefs, and criticisms of this country in his own voice. Please listen to this episode, and I encourage you to share it with someone...anyone who you think would be open to hearing an important message. As with many other speeches that have been broadcast through this podcast, it seems to have special relevance today...although it is forty years later. I particularly enjoy the part in which Dr. King describes the conversation that he had with the white gentleman on the plane. I've never heard another speech replayed in which Dr. King says quite the same things, and I'm sure that that is not by mistake. So I am excited to offer this episode as a continuation of the BMA speech series. I think I'll conclude the series by putting out one more after this. But this one is one of my absolute favorites, and I hope you find it meaningful as well. Peace.
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