Martin Luther King: And One Day We Must Ask The Question…

[freshwest]

Martin Luther King: And One Day We Must Ask The Question…

Posted by Mark on January 20, 2014 at 9:04 am.

Martin Luther King, 1967:

The movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here. And one day we must ask the question, Why are there forty million poor people in America? And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I’m simply saying that more and more, we’ve got to begin to ask questions about the whole society.

We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life’s marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that questions must be raised. You see, my friends, when you deal with this, you begin to ask the question, Who owns the oil? You begin to ask the question, Who owns the iron ore? You begin to ask the question, Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that is two-thirds water? These are questions that must be asked.

Now it is time to answer the questions he asked:

Dom Helder Camara, Archbishop of Recife:

When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.

Pope Francis:

As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems. Inequality is the root of social ills.

President Barack Obama, 2013:

For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it... Our journey is not complete…

http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=11304

[sheshe2]

1. Questions that need answers freshwest.

http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=11304

Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican in March, the White House said on Tuesday, a visit that will allow the U.S. leader to highlight a shared interest in addressing the gap between rich and poor.

Obama, a Democrat, made lifting up the middle class and fighting income inequality in the United States a key priority for his second term and a top campaign theme during his 2012 run for re-election.

snip

In October, Obama pronounced himself "hugely impressed" with the pope's comments on the church and abortion, contraception and homosexuality.

Last month, he called the pope "an extraordinarily thoughtful, and soulful, messenger of peace and justice." {ID:nL2N0JK2L3]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/21/us-usa-obama-europe-idUSBREA0K0UH20140121

Great Op fresh. Thank you!

[freshwest]

2. Thanks for the additional information. Very heartening. We are on the way forward. n/t

[sheshe2]

3. More here

After his appointment as the 'Bishop of Corum,' Câmara was known for his clear position on the side of the urban poor. In 1959 he founded Banco da Providência in Rio de Janeiro, a philanthropic organization to fight poverty and social injustice by making it easier for poor people to receive loans.


He became a proponent of liberation theology and served the poor in northeast Brazil for most of his career. He was Archbishop of the Diocese of Olinda and Recife from 1964 to 1985, during the period of repression under the military dictatorship.


Câmara spoke out and wrote about the implications of using violence to repress rebellion resulting from poverty and injustice in other venues than Brazil. He published Spiral of Violence (1971), a short tract written when the United States was immersed in a still escalating Vietnam War. It is distinctive for linking structural injustice (Level 1 violence) with escalating rebellion (Level 2 violence) and repressive reaction (Level 3 violence). In it, Câmara called on the youth of the world to take steps to break the spiral, saying their elders became addicted to those escalating steps. By the early 21st century, this book had been out of print in the United Kingdom for about 20 years. A scanned version in English is available on the web at the link given below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9lder_C%C3%A2mara