MLK Son: We Need Cabinet Post for Poverty

We need a revolution: Cornel West

(NEWSER) - The new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall may be a milestone "in the turbulent history of race and democracy in America," but let's not kid ourselves: "King weeps from his grave," writes Cornel West in a New York Times op-ed . Despite our reverence for King, we have allowed militarism, materialism, racism, and poverty to all flourish—the four very things King battled so courageously. In short, "the age of Obama has fallen tragically short of fulfilling King’s prophetic legacy." More»

But remember that he rejected 'hateful rhetoric'

(NEWSER) - The son of Martin Luther King Jr. says his father "would be the first to say" that Glenn Beck and his supporters have the right to rally in Washington this weekend—the anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech. But he'd like to remind everyone of a few of his father's values: "His dream rejected hateful rhetoric and all forms of bigotry or discrimination, whether directed at race, faith, nationality, sexual orientation or political beliefs," writes MLK III in the Washington Post . More»

We've let him down on poverty and war

(NEWSER) - Forty-two years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the nation has let him down on two important fronts:

• Poverty: "All these decades later, little has changed when it comes to economic equality," write Bill Moyers and Michael Winship in Salon . "If anything, the recent economic meltdown and recession have made the injustice of poverty even more profound." The nation's "individualist, greed-driven free-market ideology" is killing working families and poor communities. They "need and deserve help."

In his last months, Martin Luther King saw poverty as the next struggle

(NEWSER) - The Root takes the occasion of Martin Luther King Day to observe that Dr. King's focus in the last months of his life was an effort to broaden and convert the civil rights struggle into a campaign to end poverty among all Americans, not just those suffering racial discrimination. It was a risky and unpopular move for the minister, and one with particular resonance 43 years later, with an African-American president in the White House, but 16% of African Americans unemployed. For more photos of Dr. King, click here. More»

Bernice King to be first woman to head group

(NEWSER) - Bernice King was elected to lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference today, becoming the first woman to helm the civil rights organization her father, Martin Luther King Jr., co-founded. King wasn’t there for the board vote, which she won 23-15 over an Arkansas judge, so interim president Byron Clay called to give her the news. “In the spirit of your late father, with great anticipation, we look forward to your leadership,” he said. More»