About Clear Channel, the dumbing dow of radio, stats, & payola, it annoys me to know end that 99% of all discussions on music, particularly hip-hop do not start right there. I’ve written about this in one of my very first posts: “How You Can Save Hip Hop?” http://www.cosellout.com/?p=6

– As for the I Have a Dream speech, he had many previous speeches that used variations of the phrase, HOWEVER, you are absolutely correct that he had no initial plans to use it in 1963. It is no where in the copy that he was using that day in 1963. He just improvised at the end. In and of itself, if taken in its entire context is still a great speech.

– …changing it to Let Freedon Ring is definitely a step up, but even that phrase has been completely distorted. I mean SEAN HANNITY has a book called “Let Freedom Ring”! The bigger picture is somehow letting people know that MLK didn’t die that day! King must be restored as a HUMAN rights activist instead of one limited to the CRM. To do this, his latter years must be studied.

– About Bill Clinton, Toni Morrison’s comment was specifically referring to his “single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas”. None of those comments– whatever you think of them– speak to national policy. Clinton’s speeches and rhetoric on the subject of racial equality were never matched by his actual policies. As T3 points out and as you know full well because of your work there, he KNEW about Rwanda, but did not act (he does admit this to be his greatest mistake while in office). But beyond that, the crime bill that he signed in 1994 was just a TERRIBLE piece of policy that has had consequences far beyond his leaving office.

Also, when he wasn’t using Sista Souljah of all people to gain support, he probably signed the worst piece of legislation of our times: The 1996 Telecommunications Act. This act consolidated media in a way that is irreversable — as is its damage which ultimately spelled the demise of all smaller media sources which includes the independent black press and radio stations. I give him a partial pass on this one since 95 Senators also supported the Bill. The only reason that we never hear about the act is that all BIG MEDIA outlets benefitted from it.

And on a separate note the 1996 Act is also the main catalyst for the demise of all sports media. It helped enable Disney’s buyout of ESPN and its subsequent downfall.

I certainly agree with your assessment of the speech – and I would assert that the first half of the speech – the longer part was centered on outlining his “American nightmare.” The US has always portrayed itself as a democracy – even at the height of Jim Crow – even at the height of Clinton’s pissing away thousands of jobs with NAFTA…even through Bush’s unilateral determination to kill a former ally and seize the oil leases of a sovereign people (still in process). The folks who maintain the US is a democracy are absolutely delusional.

Clinton was the king of job exportation (NAFTA) and prison construction. He specialized in cutting safety nets (welfare reform/health care reform). He set the stage for framing the US relationship with China (remember that bombing in Kosovo?). He ignored Rwanda – the same way Bush is ignoring the Congo. And yet, somehow, the man who was so opposed to Big Pharma is PUSHING mandatory HIV-AIDS testing FOR ALL AFRICAN ADULTS in nations with high rates of infection. The economics of rolling out a mandatory continental testing program are enormous.

That saxophone playin’ pimp from Arkansas had sexual relations with the minds of millions of “thinking voters.” You’ve all been phukkked.

Stop the madness.

I don’t have all day – and I’m not going to smash that greasy bastard right now, but please, stop the madness. I could go on and on and on and on – till the break of dawn. Clinton does NOT deserve props – he needs to put in perspective.

I will add this mini LAP (Long-Ass Post) regarding the “I have a Dream” speech as titled by the MSM and America. I can be contradicted though I will remain convinced that Dr. King did not start out to write a speech entitled “I have a Dream”. It was the perfect buzz, hook or catch-phrase from his speech which best resonated with the populace he sought to move (both those that were reactive as opponents and proactive as cohorts). Therein lies the continued battle people of color and the HAVE-nots will continue to fight.

For me, there’s an insiduous element to coining and glorifying an MLK “I have a Dream Speech”. In fact, I say it is a downright dirty shame and we often fail to recognize it. Therefore, with no apologies to historians and purists, I suggest we recast the August 28, 1963 speech as “Let Freedom Ring” by Martin Luther King, Jr. Afterall, he began the speech by talking about the day being the most significant day in the fight for for freedom. He ends the speech with 10 repeated versese of “Let Freedom Ring”. He mentions his “dream” only 8 times so my proposal has merits in sheer numbers alone.

To contextualize this thought with 2008 as you so aptly did with your King quotes, I would say the Clinton “Fairy Tale” coinage to Obama’s discourse and presidential run is very similar to what we are to believe about King’s “dream”. In both instances, we are told that those aspirations are nothing but “dreams” and “fairy tales”. One can dream the dream or even tell the tale. At the end of the day, WE (the privileged HAVEs) will determine your reality, your identity, your accomplishments and their meaning or significance in the grand scheme of things.

Ergo today, we DO have little Black boys and little white girls getting married and eating at the same luncheon counter or having children who run for political offices. It is a dream and a fairy tale, however, if you challenge US (the privileged HAVEs). Henceforth, I submit that Martin Luther King, and the generation that struggled with him had dreams. The generations that ensued should seek their realities and let freedom ring.

Credit be unto Bill Clinton for his accomplishments as President. His time as President or being presidential have passed. I have heard the statement about “owing Bill for having been a Black President”. With that “Fairy Tale” LOADED metaphor, Bill Clinton reminds ME and a few others who may be thinking like me, that he was not a Black President the way Toni Morrison and Andrew Young say. Bill Clinton and his wife are very much about remaining with the HAVEs and blocking others from joining the world of the privileged ones. The Clintons want to dole out freedom to the HAVE-nots like benevolent slave-owner/abolitionits.

Dr. King (and similarly effective Malcolm X) reached the apex of their rise and bordered the world of the HAVEs and privileged ones. Their lives were snuffed because their dreams smacked the audacity of reality and ultimate freedom. They were viewed as Princes of Peace and won major acclaims, accolades, lived comfortably and planned with Cesar Chavez, the Native Americans, and the impoverished HAVE-nots of Kentucky and the Appalachian Mountains. The fate of those dreamers was death.

Let us watch the MSM and see how they begin the destruction of the next generation of “dreamers”. We can start by reclaiming and renaming the MLK Speech to “Let Freedom Ring” by MLK, Jr. Keep us on ALERT Modi. And we got yo back.