(Dec. 18, 2008)

I made an astonishing discovery.  Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s final speech has omissions and substituted text in 18 of the 20 online sources I checked. This means there could be more.  Are students across America learning inaccurate speeches for Black History Month?

Rev. King delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” address in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3, 1968, the day immediately preceding his assasination. He was shot in the face while standing alone on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel on April 4 during a strike by sanitation workers. A video excerpt from Rev. King's final speech is below:

http://www.scholarspot.com/video/1318/1968-Martin-Luther-King-s-Prophetic-Last-speech-Remember

http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/resources/article/video_dr_martin_luther_king_jr_i_have_a_dream_speech/

Text that is usually omitted is in ALL CAPS below, and text often substituted for Rev. King's actual words is parenthetical.

All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, MAYBE I COULD UNDERSTAND SOME OF THESE ILLEGAL INJUNCTIONS.  Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they HAVEN'T (hadn't)* committed themselves to that over there.  But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of (the)** press.  Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for RIGHTS (right)***.  And so just as I say, WE AREN’T GOING TO LET ANY DOGS OR WATER HOSES TURN US AROUND, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. _____________________

* I did not hear MLK say "hadn't," but "haven't."

** I did not hear MLK say "THE press," but only "press."

*** I did not hear MLK say "right" (an ideological standard), but "rights" (as in full citizenship)

It is disturbing that so many online sources changed Rev. King's words without notifying readers that the speech was altered. I assume the individual publishers did not know.

Most online videotapes of Rev. King’s speech start with him saying, "We’ve got some rough days ahead." Therefore, they are not useful in checking the authenticity of this quote, because this quote comes before that.  Stanford University has the quote correct at the translation in its link below. http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/speeches/I've_been_to_the_mountaintop.pdf

One would assume the video presented herein was cut to capture the most memorable portions of Rev. King's “Mountaintop” address. The written versions carry Dr. King's description of a plane incident that is excluded from the video.

Dr. King’s methodology for non-violent social change required suppressed people and their supporters to peacefully assemble and protest for basic citizenship rights in a hostile climate wherein their justice quest was met with fierce dogs, strong water hoses, and worse.  Yet thousands of African Americans were joined by people who were white, Jewish, and other, who stood together for justice during the civil rights movement in the face of illegal injunctions. 

Their courage should be heralded by all Americans.  Their tenacity taught us that the human spirit is determined to be free, and society is better for the dedication those freedom fighters showed.  Their protests against injustice never included rioting, looting, or losing their sense of dignity, unity, and purpose.  Young people who protested the shooting death of Oscar Grant by Bay Area Rapid Transit police on New Year's Day are to be commended for their demands for justice; however, some of them need to take a lesson from Dr. King and the freedom fighters who stood with him.  That is one reason why the lessons the civil rights era offers about the effectiveness of non-violent social change should be protected and passed down to future generations without censorship.  We must all learn to get along.  See the link below:

Happy Martin Luther King Day to Americans - Strongest People on the Planet!http://my.nowpublic.com/culture/happy-martin-luther-king-day-americans-strongest-people-planet-mary-neal

The online versions of the "Mountaintop" address at issue in this discussion had the italicized text presented below in 18 of 20 sources checked in mid-December.  In the excerpt below, recurring errors in Dr. King's speech as presented by most online publishers are noted by brackets, and three of the links that featured the misquote appear underneath this excerpt (although I hope corrections have been made now or will be soon).

All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, [omission] maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't [should be "haven't"] committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the [extra word]  press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right[omit "s"].  And so just as I say, we aren't going to let [omission] any injunction turn us around.

http://www.school-for-champions.com/speeches/king_last_speech_3Apr68.htm

http://www.afscme.org/about/1549.cfm

http://www.kingian.net/ive-been-to-the-mountaintop.html

There are many more examples of Dr. King's final speech being misquoted in online documents while being presented as literal translations.  Because identical errors recur in so many publications, this could be deliberate misinformation on the part of the person or entity that supplied the speech to publishers.

During the 1970’s, Black History gained popularity in universities because African American history was omitted from or misrepresented in American History classes. For instance, my high school textbooks of the 1960's and 1970's had little or no mention of slavery, only Pilgrims.

Laws barring the right for Rev. King and other demonstrators to peacefully assemble and petition their government for a redress of grievances were "illegal injunctions." Dogs and water hoses were regularly used against demonstrators. It seems ridiculous for anyone to intentionally change Rev. King's speech to leave out those references, especially since peaceful protests won the great victory of that day.  On the other hand, perhaps the deletions in Dr. King’s final speech result from error rather than intentional sabotage.  It could be that the censorship this writer faces daily has made her distrustful enough to ask:

WHY IS THERE STILL AN EFFORT TO RE‑WRITE BLACK HISTORY? 

A NowPublic article by Karen Hatter at the link below commemorates the 41st anniversary of Dr. King's death and presents a thorough examination of the misinformation that was employed to discredit him and confuse his message.  Apparently, this effort never ended.

The 41st Anniversary of the Murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.http://my.nowpublic.com/world/41st-anniversary-murder-dr-martin-luther-king-jr

Martin Luther King, Jr. and I seem to have much in common. His freedom quest ended in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3, 1968, by an assassin's bullet. Suspicions of a police cover-up linger to this day. My family's justice quest began in Memphis on August 1, 2003, with my mentally ill brother's secret arrest and wrongful death while in police custody. Due to an elaborate cover-up, although it is now five years later, Larry Neal's family is not allowed to know why he was secretly arrested or exactly how he died. Authorities refuse to answer his family's simple question: Why and how did Larry Neal die?

Rev. King was a human rights advocate who devoted himself to liberating oppressed people. He used the Word of God and his gift as an orator to make a positive difference in the world.

Since Larry's death, my family started ASSISTANCE TO THE INCARCERATED MENTALLY ILL, a grassroots human rights organization with an online presence on Care2 and other Internet networks. This writer spends long hours advocating for oppressed mental patients and their families, trying to save others from suffering as my family has by an unjust system of "justice."

Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. This writer remains home day after day after being followed for months and accosted several times at businesses in her neighborhood by parties unknown. The stalking has been going on ever since Larry Neal's family successfully served a lawsuit to The (Johnnie) Cochran Firm for fraud, alleging that The Cochran Firm contracted with Larry's mother immediately following his death in order to protect Memphis/Shelby County Jail, then merely held the wrongful death lawsuit against the jail to linger inactive on the law firm's shelves while Tennessee's statute of limitations ran for 10.5 months (the statute of limitations on such matters is only 12 months in Tennessee).

The plight of African Americans living under Jim Crow laws and their quest for civil rights spearheaded by Rev. King and other leaders were ignored, met with violence sanctioned by authorities, and censored in mainstream news until the civil rights movement became impossible to ignore.  Rev. King took it to the streets. Thousands of protesters joined Rev. King and marched for equal rights under the law. The quest to render basic human rights and civil rights to 1.25 million mental patients who are presently wrongly imprisoned in America for reason of their mental dysfunctions may require a similar effort.  Just as Rev. King and his freedom fighters marched across the Jim Crow South, Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill members march across the Internet to alert the public of the injustice inherent in imprisoning rather than treating citizens for mental illness. 

It would be unfortunate if Larry Neal's family has to move our justice quest from the courtrooms to the streets of Atlanta (home of the Court-declared "non-existent Cochran Firm office) and Memphis to alert the world to the lack of justice rendered to mental patients and their families following abuses and deaths of mentally handicapped Americans. It is regrettable if four decades after Rev. King's assassination, it still takes public demonstrations to secure human rights and justice in America, especially when those victimized are African Americans like Larry's family.

The solution for justice is the same today as Rev. King suggested four decades ago, America must  "be true to what you said on paper":  One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 

                                          HAPPY MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY!

Mary Neal

Website: http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

Author's Page: http://www.care2.com/c2c/people/profile.html?pid=513396753

Articles: http://www.care2.com/news/member/513396753?sort=submitted

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill

Care2: http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI

Let no man pull you so low that you hate him.  Always avoid violence.  If you sow seeds of violence in your struggle, unborn generations will reap the whirlwind of social disintegration.  ~  Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

www.nowpublic.com/culture/mlks-final-speech-was-fraudulently-edited-change-history