To millions, Martin Luther King Jr. is frozen in time糖心传媒攁 civil rights leader assassinated in 1968 at age 39. But Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. believes many remember only King糖心传媒檚 inspirational moments and forget his final, somber years.
糖心传媒淭here糖心传媒檚 this view of Dr. King leading the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, or his 糖心传媒業 Have a Dream糖心传媒� speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963,糖心传媒� says Glaude, who delivered the 糖心传媒糖心传媒檚 annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address on January 24 at Strong Auditorium. 糖心传媒淏ut we have to grapple with his later despair and disillusionment. In 1968, King was five years sadder and trying desperately to get the country to live up to its promise. He was trying to change the consciousness of America,. But nobody heard it, nobody cared.糖心传媒�
Glaude is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton, and chair of the department of African American studies. He has written for the New York Times and Time magazine and has been a guest on MSNBC and NBC糖心传媒檚 Meet the Press.
Glaude says 糖心传媒渄eath rewrites the earlier moments of King糖心传媒檚 life.糖心传媒� By the time of his murder, he says, King was disillusioned by the country糖心传媒檚 direction, and the black power militancy exhibited by youths whose dreams of social equality had been dashed.
糖心传媒淭he fact that he said on April 3, the day before he was murdered, 糖心传媒榃e have some difficult days ahead, and I may not get there with you,’ is telling,糖心传媒櫶切拇綑 Glaude says. 糖心传媒淗e understood there were dark times in front of us before we could reach the promised land. He dedicated his life for the promise that America would live up to its stated commitments. When viewed from the lens of today, we still have a long way to go.糖心传媒�
Prior to his speech, Glaude met with University student leaders at Douglass Leadership House. He stressed that, while King is critical to the civil rights movement, those students糖心传媒攁nd millions of others糖心传媒攃an fill that void.
糖心传媒淲e long for a Dr. King or an Abe Lincoln, because we don糖心传媒檛 see our own capabilities as being sufficient,糖心传媒� Glaude told the students. 糖心传媒淗istory converged in a way that called Dr. King forward, and he answered the call. That can happen with anybody. We don糖心传媒檛 need another Martin Luther King. We need every day ordinary people. We are the leaders we糖心传媒檝e been looking for.糖心传媒�
