In this speech, Professor Robin D. G. Kelley, explains Dr. Martin Luther King’s radical vision, the program of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Spirit of 1968, the aims and objectives of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, and the continuation of these visions and objectives in the Jackson-Kush Plan and its aims and objectives.
This lecture was given in Williamstown, MS on November 15, 2018. It was released on Alternative Radio by David Barsamian on March 25, 2019.
This lecture must be played on Itunes and can be accessed via the following link https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/robin-kelley-the-dream-of-revolution/id412788680?i=1000432779671&mt=2
Excerpt from Alternative Radio In some ways Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered twice. First by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis and then by killing his revolutionary message. Today, King is largely remembered with special holiday sales. His vision of radical revolution muted. He posed a special threat to the power structure. It was one thing to demand desegregation of lunch counters and quite another when in his Beyond Vietnam speech he called for:
“a radical redistribution of economic and political power . . . a revolution of values . . . We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together. . . The whole structure of American life must be changed.”
Those words in 1967 resonate today. The dream of revolution, of creating a society based on equality and justice lives on.
Robin D. G. Kelley, professor of history at UCLA is an award-winning author. Among his many books are Race Rebels: Culture, Politics and the Black Working Class, Yo’ Mama’s DisFunktional, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original and Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times.
