Paul Andersen ([email protected])
Mon, 18 Jan 1999 08:44:16 -0700
His speech begins with lyrics from Pride (In The Name of Love), and for
that reason, I am forwarding his speech to the list. Enjoy and say a
prayer...
Prepared Remarks of
Senator Paul Wellstone
On Martin Luther King Day
January 18, 1999
It was just over three decades ago, when
"Early morning, April 4,
"A shot [rang] out in the Memphis sky"
that took from us the man who came
"In the name of love." 1/
Today, we honor the memory of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. when we
honor that in which he believed. We keep faith today with our fallen hero
when we honor that for which he fought.
We honor him today when we speak of freedom, when we speak of justice, and
when we speak of love. We venerate him today when we fight violence, when
we fight war, and when we fight intolerance. We revere him when we
continue to dream.
And today, three decades after his death, we honor Martin Luther King when
we speak of that for which he fought in the last years of his life. We
venerate him when we continue as he did to speak of economic justice, when
we continue as he did to fight poverty.
We revere him when we recall his words in his last presidential address to
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which he entitled "Where Do
We Go from Here." In that address, when Martin Luther King spoke of where
we go from here, he said:
[L]et us go out with a "divine dissatisfaction.". . . Let us be
dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth
and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by
the battering rams of the forces of justice. . . . Let us be dissatisfied
until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family is
living in a decent sanitary home. . . . Let us be dissatisfied [until] men
will recognize that out of one blood God made all men to dwell upon the
face of the earth.
It has been more than three decades since Martin Luther King left us, but
we still have a long way to go from here.
Right here in Minnesota, the median family income of African American
households was only 71 percent of the state average in 1980. But in 1990,
it had fallen to only 55 percent.
It has been nearly four centuries since settlers brought men in irons to
these shores, but we still have a long way to go from here.
Here in Minnesota, half of African American children live in poverty.
It has been a century and a third since this Nation adopted the 13th, 14th,
and 15th amendments to its fundamental charter, in which this Nation
promised itself that every citizen no matter what "race, color, or previous
condition of servitude" shall have the equal protection of the laws, shall
have the same right to vote, and shall be forever free, but we still have a
long way to go from here.
In the Twin Cities, the poverty rate among African Americans rose from 26
percent in 1980 to 37 percent in 1990.
It has been two and twenty years since the fourth of July day when the
President gave Martin Luther King the posthumous award of the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the citation of which stated in part: "[H]e continued to
his last days to strive for a world where the poorest and humblest among us
could enjoy the fulfillment of the promises of our founding fathers." And
we still have a long way to go from here.
In Minnesota, African Americans are 2-1/2 times less likely to own their
own home as white Minnesotans.
It has been 35 years since
"they passed a law in '64
"To give those who ain�t got a little more,
"But it only goes so far
"Because the law don't change another's mind
"When all it sees at the hiring time
"Is the line on the color bar" 2/
And we still have a long way to go from here.
In Minnesota, African Americans are twice as likely as average to be
without health insurance.
It has been 18 months since the President spoke at the commencement at the
University of California at San Diego, when he said he wanted "to lead the
American people in a great and unprecedented conversation about race." And
we still have a long way to go from here.
In Minneapolis, African Americans represent nearly two-thirds of homicide
victims.
It has been this past week three score years and ten -- the Bible's
proverbial span of a life -- since at 501 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta,
Georgia, a child was born whom they named Martin Luther King Jr., and we
still have a long way to go from here.
Here in Minnesota, African American and Native American children are eight
times more likely than white children to live out-of-home in foster care,
emergency shelters, residential treatment, or juvenile corrections.
It has been 35 years since Martin Luther King said that "Injustice anywhere
is a threat to justice everywhere." And we still have a long way to go from
here.
In Minnesota, African American youths are five times more likely than
average to be incarcerated.
It has been three decades since that April 9 when they buried a great
prophet who sought to lead a People to the Promised Land, but the hearts of
too many have been hardened, the hearts of too many have been stubborn, and
we still have a long way to go from here.
Here in Minnesota, African American and Native American babies are three
times more likely than white babies to die before their first birthday.
It has been 135 years since the 16th President of the United States
dedicated us all to the proposition "that this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom." In the name of Martin Luther King, let us
rededicate ourselves to that solemn promise, for we still have a long way
to go, from here.
------------------
1/ From the band U2's song "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
2/ From Bruce Hornsby's song "The Way It Is"
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