As part of an on-going series, Chicago Media Action is sponsoring a Public Education Forum during Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, 3:00PM, Sunday, January 18th, at The Chicago Temple (77 W. Washington). The topic will be:

"Martin Luther King, Jr. Identified the real 'Axis of Evil' - Poverty, Racism, and War: What Did the Media Fail To Cover and Why?"

Author Carol Bragg speculates "The vision, the analysis, and the agenda that King espoused, and we largely neglected, might have prevented those horrific events of 9/11". Many similarities can be drawn between the "neglected" points King made against the Vietnam War and the points being made today against the war in Iraq. This forum will examine the issue of media bias and what impact it has had on the current state of U.S. foreign and domestic affairs.

The program agenda is scheduled to include:
(1) Commentary by Cliff Kelley (radio talk show host and former Chicago alderman) and Salim Muwakkil (Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist and a senior editor at "In These Times").

(2) "At The River I Stand", a 56-minute award-winning documentary film on Dr. King's last labor organizing movement - the Memphis sanitation worker's strike. The film will be introduced by noted labor and civil rights activist Katie Jordan, President of the Chicago Chapter of Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW).

(3) Dr. King's "Why I Oppose The War in Vietnam" speech (a 23-minute excerpt from this speech given April 4, 1967 - one year to the day before his assassination). This speech is riveting - some say it is the best speech he ever made. King warned that unless the "triple evils" of poverty, racism and militarism are seriously addressed, then global chaos will result.

(4) A question/comment/discussion period, where members of the audience can have an opportunity to voice their opinions and interact with the speakers.

(5) A celebratory hearing/singing-along-to Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday To You" (the hit song Wonder wrote to honor Dr. King and to pressure Ronald Reagan into signing the bill making Dr. King's birthday a federal holiday).

To read more about this event, see the press release copied below.

PRESS RELEASE: Chicago Media Action
January 1, 2004
http://www.chicagomediaaction.org

Chicago Media Action sponsors a Public Education Forum during Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, 3:00PM, Sunday, January 18th, 2004 at The Chicago Temple.

TOPIC:
"Martin Luther King, Jr. Identified the Real 'Axis of Evil' - Poverty, Racism, and War: What Did the Media Fail To Cover and Why?"

CHICAGO -- As part of an ongoing series, Chicago Media Action is sponsoring and organizing a Public Education Forum on Sunday, January 18th at 3:00PM. The topic will be:

"Martin Luther King, Jr. Identified The Real 'Axis of Evil' - Poverty, Racism, and War: What Did the Media Fail To Cover and Why?"

For the most part, the American culture has been comfortable with freezing Dr. King's image at the point in 1963 when he gave his "I Have A Dream" speech - feeling safe in the assumption that various forms of token integration were King's only objectives. However, this forum will explore the more radical ideas Dr. King put forward during his final years (1965 through 1968). "Many are unaware of King's later-life political evolution because the media failed to fully inform the public" says Bob Gallie of Chicago Media Action. This forum will also examine the issue of media bias and what impact it has had on the current state of U.S. foreign and domestic affairs.

The program agenda is scheduled to include:
(1) Commentary by Cliff Kelley (radio talk show host and former Chicago alderman) and Salim Muwakkil (Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist and a senior editor at "In These Times"). They will analyze the media angle of this issue, tie it into today's concerns, and suggest possible solutions.

2) "At the River I Stand", a 56-minute documentary film on Dr. King's last labor organizing movement - the Memphis sanitation worker's strike.

Noting that the majority of the Americans below the poverty line were white, King developed a "class perspective" - seeking to combine both the black and white working class into one, more powerful movement. He called for "radical changes in the structure of our society" to redistribute wealth and power. This documentary was nominated for an Emmy award, was given the Best Documentary award by the Organization of American Historians and is a part of the Peabody Awards Collection. The film will be introduced by noted labor and civil rights activist Katie Jordan, President of the Chicago Chapter of Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW).

3) Dr. King's "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam" speech (a 23-minute excerpt from this speech given April 4, 1967 - one year to the day before his assassination). Some say this speech is the best speech he ever made. King warned that unless the "triple evils" of poverty, racism and militarism are seriously addressed, then global chaos will result. Many have pointed to this address as one of the motivations for the media and the government to censor Dr. King. After this speech the Washington Post wrote, in a somewhat patronizing tone, that "King has diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."

4) A question/comment/discussion period will give members of the audience an opportunity to voice their opinions and interact with the speakers.

5) The forum will close with a celebratory hearing/singing-along-to Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday To You" (the hit song Wonder wrote to honor Dr. King and to pressure Reagan into signing the bill making Dr. King's birthday a federal holiday).

Chicago Media Action (CMA) is an activist group dedicated to analyzing and broadening Chicago's mainstream media and to building Chicago's independent media. CMA monitors and analyzes media... in order to expose the economic and political interests which control them. The concluding years of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life make an interesting case study on the issue of how media control the message. Those who have studied King's final years suggest there are various opinions on why the mainstream news media failed to fully inform the general public about the evolution of King's political agenda. Some reasons cited include:

1) King's plan to redistribute wealth and restructure the U.S. economy by combining the African-American movement, the poor people's movement and the labor movement. This consolidation was seen as a threat to the "American" way of life and at the time was labeled by some as "communist". 2) The fear that if King's position against the Vietnam war had been more widely known, the size of the anti-war movement would have increased significantly. King predicted that the rest of the world would not tolerate this country's abusive behavior forever.

Author Carol Bragg writes "The vision, the analysis, and the agenda that King espoused, and we largely neglected, might have prevented those horrific events of 9/11". Many similarities can be drawn between the "neglected" points King made against the Vietnam War and the points being made today against the war in Iraq. In both cases, the public has expressed concern about not getting all sides of the story. What impact media censorship and institutional racism has had on U.S. foreign and domestic policies, both then and now, will be explored as part of the afternoon's discussion.

This event will mark the beginning of a working coalition between labor activists and media activists here in Chicago. In addition to an appearance by labor leader Katie Jordan, Congress Hotel workers currently on strike will participate in the forum by explaining their issues and answering audience questions regarding the circumstances that led to their strike.

Chicago Media Action is sponsoring and organizing this forum, which will be from 3 to 6 PM on Sunday, January 18th. The location will be 77 W. Washington Street (the Chicago Temple of the First United Methodist Church, which seats 900). More information is available at the CMA website (http://www.chicagomediaaction.org).

CONTACT:
Karen Bond - 847-328-4849
Scott Sanders - 847-679-8032
Mitchell Szczepanczyk, President, Chicago Media Action - 1-866-260-7198

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this website are those of the individual members of Chicago Media Action who authored them, and not necessarily those of the entire membership of Chicago Media Action, nor of Chicago Media Action as an organization.

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