Sunday, 18 January 2015

The Illusion of Free Speech



"[Anti-Semitism] maintains conspiracy theories that spread without limits. Conspiracy theories that have, in the past, led to the worst "(...)" [The] answer is to realize that conspiracy theories are disseminated through the Internet and social networks. Moreover, we must remember that it is words that have in the past prepared extermination. 

We need to act at the European level, and even internationally, so that a legal framework can be defined, and so that Internet platforms that manage social networks are held to account and that sanctions be imposed for failure to enforce" 

President François Hollande
Remarks at the Shoah Memorial
January 27 2015 



"The Bardic tradition of magick would place a bard as being much higher and more fearsome than a magician.  A magician might curse you.  That might make your hands lay funny or you might have a child born with a club foot.  

If a Bard were to place not a curse upon you, but a satire, then that could destroy you.  

If it was a clever satire, it might not just destroy you in the eyes of your associates; it would destroy you in the eyes of your family.  It would destroy you in your own eyes.  

And if it was a finely worded and clever satire that might survive and be remembered for decades, even centuries.  

Then years after you were dead people still might be reading it and laughing at you and your wretchedness and your absurdity.  

Writers and people who had command of words were respected and feared as people who manipulated magic. "

- Alan Moore


French President François Hollande has condemned the violence, calling France’s commitment to freedom of expression "non-negotiable".


“There are tensions abroad where people don’t understand our attachment to freedom of speech,” Hollande said.



Image of a French police officer wearing a kepi at the Pithiviers deportation camp. 

This shot was censored in the original version of the film, Night and Fog (1955)

Image of a French police officer at the Pithiviers deportation camp. 

His kepi has been obscured by a wooden beam, at the behest of the French film censors. 

This shot appeared in the original version of the film Night and Fog (1955)

I Quote The Enemy:

"After the film was complete, producer Dauman told Resnais that he was "delighted to have produced the film", but that he guaranteed that "It will never see a theatrical release".

In December 1955, French censors wanted some scenes cut from Night and Fog.

The end of the film shows scenes of bodies being bulldozed into mass graves. These were considered too violent to be allowed in the film. Another point of contention was that Resnais had included photographs of French officers guarding a detention center, operated by the Vichy government and located in central France, where Jews were gathered before Deportation. 

This scene prompted a call demanding that the shot be cut because it "might be offensive in the eyes of the present-day military".

Resnais resisted this censorship, insisting that images of collaboration were important for the public to see.

When Resnais refused to cut the scene with the officer, the censors pressured that they would cut off the last ten minutes of his film.

Finally, to compromise, Resnais stated that obscuring the scene wouldn't change the meaning of the film to him, and he painted a beam that obscured the képi the officer was wearing.

In exchange, Resnais would be allowed to show the bodies at the end of the film, which was restored to its original form for a 2003 DVD release.

The second act of censorship in the film was a huge scandal with the German embassy in France asking for the film to be withdrawn from the Cannes Film Festival.

The French press reacted against the proposed withdrawal, noting that Cayrol and Resnais were very cautious in defining the difference between the Nazi criminals and the German people.

Articles were written in French magazines including Libération and L'Humanité, protesting any censorship of the film at Cannes.

One of the few writers who supported the withdrawal, Jean Dutourd, felt that Auschwitz and other concentration camps should be forgotten."

Dieudonne is living under daily threat of death from the French Branch of the Jewish Defence League (JDL) - recognised as so fascist that they are banned in the United States, and in Israel, following a failed assassination attempt on Congressman Darryl Issa (R-Ca.) in 2002.

But not in France.

Goddamn Vichyssoises...





LAW No 90-615 to repress acts of racism, anti-semitism and xenophobia (1990)
MODIFICATIONS OF THE LAW OF JULY 29, 1881 ON THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS Art 8. - Article 24 of the Law on the Freedom of the Press of 29 July 1881 is supplemented by the following provisions: In the event of judgment for one of the facts envisaged by the preceding subparagraph, the court will be able moreover to order: Except when the responsibility for the author of the infringement is retained on the base for article 42 and the first subparagraph for article 43 for this law or the first three subparagraphs for article 93-3 for the law No 82-652 for July 29, 1982 on the audio-visual communication, the deprivation of the rights enumerated to the 2o and 3o of article 42 of the penal code for imprisonment of five years maximum;
Art 9. – As an amendment to Article 24 of the law of July 29, 1881 on the freedom of the press, article 24 (a) is as follows written: <<Art. 24 (a). - those who have disputed the existence of one or more crimes against humanitysuch as they are defined by Article 6 of the statute of the international tribunal military annexed in the agreement of London of August 8, 1945 and which were a carried out either by the members of an organization declared criminal pursuant to Article 9 of the aforementioned statute, or by a person found guilty such crimes by a French or international jurisdiction shall be punished by one month to one year's imprisonment or a fine.
Art 13. - It is inserted, after article 48-1 of the law of July 29, 1881 on the freedom of the press, article 48-2 thus written: <<Art. 48-2. - publication or publicly expressed opinion encouraging those to whom it is addressed to pass a favourable moral judgment on one or more crimes against humanity and tending to justify these crimes (including collaboration) or vindicate their perpetrators shall be punished by one to five years' imprisonment or a fine.
In France, the Gayssot Act, voted for on July 13, 1990, makes it illegal to question the existence of crimes that fall in the category of crimes against humanity as defined in the London Charter of 1945, on the basis of which Nazi leaders were convicted by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945-46. 

When the act was challenged by Robert Faurisson, the Human Rights Committee upheld it as a necessary means to counter possible antisemitism. 

In 2012, the Constitutional Council of France ruled that to extend the Gayssot Act to the Armenian Genocide denial was unconstitutional because it violated the freedom of speech.


Interesting that the court ruled that Armenian Genocide Denial is an issue of "personal expression" (I.e. "Art"), rather than "freedom of speech" (dissemination of information) - the clear implication being that if you are conscious that you are MASSIVELY LYING about something that matters to relatively few people, that's protected speech and cannot be messed with, whereas telling the uncomfortable truth about an unpalatable truth that daily impacts on millions of lives in the Middle East and beyond assumes the mantle of State Secrecy.

Who understands The French, after all...?



On 23 December 2013, French President François Hollande said "We will act, with the government led by prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, to shake the tranquility which, under the cover of anonymity, facilitates shameful actions online. But also we will fight against the sarcasm of those who purport to be humorists but are actually professional anti-Semites."

In a statement on 27 December 2013, France's Interior Minister Manuel Valls said he would consider "all legal means" to ban Dieudonné's "public meetings," given that he "addresses in an obvious and insufferable manner the memory of victims of the Shoah."




JORF n° 0162 du 14 juillet 1990 page 8333 



LOI 

Loi n° 90-615 du 13 juillet 1990 tendant à réprimer tout acte raciste, antisémite ou xénophobe 


NOR: JUSX9010223L
ELI: Non disponible 
L'Assemblée nationale et le Sénat ont délibéré,
L'Assemblée nationale a adopté,
Le Président de la République promulgue la loi dont la teneur suit:

Art. 1er. - Toute discrimination fondée sur l'appartenance ou la non-appartenance à une ethnie, une nation, une race ou une religion est interdite.
L'Etat assure le respect de ce principe dans le cadre des lois en vigueur.

Art. 2. - Le 21 mars de chaque année, date retenue par l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour la Journée internationale pour l'élimination de toutes les formes de discrimination raciale, la Commission nationale consultative des droits de l'homme remet au Gouvernement un rapport sur la lutte contre le racisme. Ce rapport est immédiatement rendu public.

TITRE Ier


MODIFICATIONS DU CODE PENAL


Art. 3. - Il est inséré, après l'article 51 du code pénal, un article 51-1 ainsi rédigé:
<<Art. 51-1. - Dans les cas prévus par la loi, le tribunal pourra ordonner, aux frais du condamné, soit la publication intégrale ou partielle de sa décision, soit l'insertion d'un communiqué informant le public des motifs et du dispositif de celle-ci dans le Journal officiel de la République française ou dans un ou plusieurs journaux ou écrits périodiques qu'il désignera.
<<Le tribunal déterminera, le cas échéant, les extraits de la décision qui devront être publiés; il fixera les termes du communiqué à insérer.>>  

Art. 4. - Il est inséré, après l'article 187-2 du code pénal, un article 187-3 ainsi rédigé:
<<Art. 187-3. - En cas de condamnation prononcée en application des articles 187-1 ou 187-2, le tribunal pourra ordonner:

<<1o La privation des droits mentionnés aux 2o et 3o de l'article 42, pour une durée de cinq ans au plus;
<<2o L'affichage de sa décision dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51;
<<3o La publication de celle-ci ou l'insertion d'un communiqué dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51-1, sans que les frais de publication ou d'insertion puissent excéder le maximum de l'amende encourue.>>  

Art. 5. - Le dernier alinéa de l'article 416 du code pénal est abrogé.

Art. 6. - Il est inséré, après l'article 416-1 du code pénal, un article 416-2 ainsi rédigé:
<<Art. 416-2. - En cas de condamnation prononcée en application des articles 416 et 416-1, le tribunal pourra ordonner:
<<1o La privation des droits mentionnés aux 2o et 3o de l'article 42, pour une durée de cinq ans au plus;
<<2o L'affichage de sa décision dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51;
<<3o La publication de celle-ci ou l'insertion d'un communiqué dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51-1, sans que les frais de publication ou d'insertion puissent excéder le maximum de l'amende encourue.
<<Toutefois, en cas de condamnation en application des dispositions de l'article 416 relatives à l'état de santé ou au handicap, l'affichage ou la publication de la décision, ou l'insertion d'un communiqué, ne pourront comporter l'identité de la victime qu'avec son accord ou celui de son représentant légal.>> 

TITRE II


MODIFICATIONS DE LA LOI DU 29 JUILLET 1881
SUR LA LIBERTE DE LA PRESSE


Art. 7. - Il est inséré, après l'article 13 de la loi du 29 juillet 1881 sur la liberté de la presse, un article 13-1 ainsi rédigé:
<<Art. 13-1. - Le droit de réponse prévu par l'article 13 pourra être exercé par les associations remplissant les conditions prévues par l'article 48-1, lorsqu'une personne ou un groupe de personnes auront, dans un journal ou écrit périodique, fait l'objet d'imputations susceptibles de porter atteinte à leur honneur ou à leur réputation à raison de leur origine ou de leur appartenance ou de leur non-appartenance à une ethnie, une nation, une race ou une religion déterminée.
<<Toutefois, quand la mise en cause concernera des personnes considérées individuellement, l'association ne pourra exercer le droit de réponse que si elle justifie avoir reçu leur accord.
<<Aucune association ne pourra requérir l'insertion d'une réponse en application du présent article dès lors qu'aura été publiée une réponse à la demande d'une des associations remplissant les conditions prévues par l'article 48-1.>>  

Art. 8. - L'article 24 de la loi du 29 juillet 1881 sur la liberté de la presse est complété par les dispositions suivantes:
<<En cas de condamnation pour l'un des faits prévus par l'alinéa précédent, le tribunal pourra en outre ordonner:
<<1o Sauf lorsque la responsabilité de l'auteur de l'infraction est retenue sur le fondement de l'article 42 et du premier alinéa de l'article 43 de la présente loi ou des trois premiers alinéas de l'article 93-3 de la loi no 82-652 du 29 juillet 1982 sur la communication audiovisuelle, la privation des droits énumérés aux 2o et 3o de l'article 42 du code pénal pour une durée de cinq ans au plus;

<<2o L'affichage de sa décision dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51 du code pénal;
<<3o La publication de sa décision ou l'insertion d'un communiqué dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51-1 du code pénal, sans que les frais de publication ou d'insertion puissent excéder le maximum de l'amende encourue.>>  

Art. 9. - Il est inséré, après l'article 24 de la loi du 29 juillet 1881 sur la liberté de la presse, un article 24 bis ainsi rédigé:
<<Art. 24 bis. - Seront punis des peines prévues par le sixième alinéa de l'article 24 ceux qui auront contesté, par un des moyens énoncés à l'article 23, l'existence d'un ou plusieurs crimes contre l'humanité tels qu'ils sont définis par l'article 6 du statut du tribunal militaire international annexé à l'accord de Londres du 8 août 1945 et qui ont été commis soit par les membres d'une organisation déclarée criminelle en application de l'article 9 dudit statut, soit par une personne reconnue coupable de tels crimes par une juridiction française ou internationale.
<<Le tribunal pourra en outre ordonner:
<<1o L'affichage de sa décision dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51 du code pénal;
<<2o La publication de celle-ci ou l'insertion d'un communiqué dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51-1 du code pénal, sans que les frais de publication ou d'insertion puissent excéder le maximum de l'amende encourue.>>  

Art. 10. - L'article 32 de la loi du 29 juillet 1881 sur la liberté de la presse est complété par les dispositions suivantes:
<<En cas de condamnation pour l'un des faits prévus par l'alinéa précédent, le tribunal pourra en outre ordonner:
<<1o L'affichage de sa décision dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51 du code pénal;
<<2o La publication de celle-ci on l'insertion d'un communiqué dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51-1 du code pénal, sans que les frais de publication ou d'insertion puissent excéder le maximum de l'amende encourue.>>  

Art. 11. - L'article 33 de la loi du 29 juillet 1881 sur la liberté de la presse est complété par les dispositions suivantes:
<<En cas de condamnation pour l'un des faits prévus par l'alinéa précédent, le tribunal pourra en outre ordonner:
<<1o L'affichage de sa décision dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51 du code pénal;
<<2o La publication de celle-ci ou l'insertion d'un communiqué dans les conditions prévues par l'article 51-1 du code pénal, sans que les frais de publication ou d'insertion puissent excéder le maximum de l'amende encourue.>>  

Art. 12. - Dans le premier alinéa de l'article 48-1 de la loi du 29 juillet 1881 sur la liberté de la presse, après les mots: <<de combattre le racisme>> sont insérés les mots: <<ou d'assister les victimes de discrimination fondée sur leur origine nationale, ethnique, raciale ou religieuse>>.

Art. 13. - Il est inséré, après l'article 48-1 de la loi du 29 juillet 1881 sur la liberté de la presse, un article 48-2 ainsi rédigé:
<<Art. 48-2. - Toute association régulièrement déclarée depuis au moins cinq ans à la date des faits, qui se propose, par ses statuts, de défendre les intérêts moraux et l'honneur de la Résistance ou des déportés peut exercer les droits reconnus à la partie civile en ce qui concerne l'apologie des crimes de guerre, des crimes contre l'humanité ou des crimes ou délits de collaboration avec l'ennemi et en ce qui concerne l'infraction prévue par l'article 24 bis.>>  

TITRE III


DISPOSITIONS DIVERSES


Art. 14. - L'article 6 de la loi no 82-652 du 29 juillet 1982 sur la communication audiovisuelle est complété par un paragraphe II ainsi rédigé:
<<II. - Les associations remplissant les conditions fixées par l'article 48-1 de la loi du 29 juillet 1881 sur la liberté de la presse peuvent également exercer le droit de réponse prévu par le présent article dans le cas où des imputations susceptibles de porter atteinte à l'honneur ou à la réputation d'une personne ou d'un groupe de personnes à raison de leur origine, de leur appartenance ou de leur non-appartenance à une ethnie, une nation, une race ou une religion déterminée auraient été diffusées dans le cadre d'une activité de communication audiovisuelle.
<<Toutefois, quand les imputations concerneront des personnes considérées individuellement, l'association ne pourra exercer le droit de réponse que si elle justifie avoir reçu leur accord.
<<Aucune association ne pourra requérir la diffusion d'une réponse en application du présent article dès lors qu'aura été diffusée une réponse à la demande d'une des associations remplissant les conditions prévues par l'article 48-1 précité.>> 

Art. 15. - I. - Le deuxième alinéa de l'article 8 de la loi no 85-699 du 11 juillet 1985 tendant à la constitution d'archives audiovisuelles de la justice est complété par la phrase suivante:
<<Toutefois, la reproduction ou la diffusion, intégrale ou partielle, de l'enregistrement des audiences d'un procès pour crime contre l'humanité peut être autorisée dès que ce procès a pris fin par une décision devenue définitive.>> II. - Les procès dont l'enregistrement aura été autorisé au jour de la promulgation de la présente loi pourront être reproduits ou diffusés en suivant la procédure prévue par l'article 8 modifié de la loi no 85-699 du 11 juillet 1985 précitée.

La présente loi sera exécutée comme loi de l'Etat.
Fait à Paris, le 13 juillet 1990.
FRANCOIS MITTERRAND
Par le Président de la République:
Le Premier ministre,
MICHEL ROCARD

Le ministre d'Etat, ministre des affaires étrangères,
ROLAND DUMAS
Le garde des sceaux, ministre de la justice,
PIERRE ARPAILLANGE

Le ministre de la défense,
JEAN-PIERRE CHEVENEMENT
Le ministre de l'intérieur,
PIERRE JOXE

Le ministre de la culture, de la communication,
des grands travaux et du Bicentenaire,
JACK LANG
Le ministre délégué auprès du ministre de la culture,
de la communication, des grands travaux
et du Bicentenaire, chargé de la communication,

CATHERINE TASCA
(1) Travaux préparatoires: loi no 90-615.



Assemblée nationale:



Proposition de loi no 43;

Rapport de M. François Asensi, au nom de la commission des lois, no 1296;

Discussion et adoption le 2 mai 1990.



Sénat:



Proposition de loi, adoptée par l'Assemblée nationale, no 278 (1989-1990);

Rapport de M. Charles Lederman, au nom de la commission des lois, no 337 (1989-1990);

Discussion et rejet le 11 juin 1990.



Assemblée nationale:



Proposition de loi, rejetée par le Sénat, no 1433;

Rapport de M. François Asensi, au nom de la commission des lois, no 1488;

Discussion et adoption le 28 juin 1990.



Sénat:



Proposition de loi, adoptée par l'Assemblée nationale en deuxième lecture,

no 451 (1989-1990);

Rapport de M. Charles Lederman, au nom de la commission des lois, no 454 (1989-1990);

Discussion et rejet le 29 juin 1990.



Assemblée nationale:



Rapport de M. François Asensi, au nom de la commission mixte paritaire, no 1571.



Sénat:



Rapport de M. Charles Lederman, au nom de la commission mixte paritaire, no 456 (1989-1990).



Assemblée nationale:



Proposition de loi, rejetée par le Sénat en deuxième lecture, no 1570;

Rapport de M. François Asensi no 1572;

Discussion et adoption le 29 juin 1990.



Sénat:



Proposition de loi, adoptée avec modifications par l'Assemblée nationale en nouvelle lecture, no 458 (1989-1990);

Rapport de M. Charles Lederman, au nom de la commission des lois, no 459 (1989-1990);

Discussion et rejet le 30 juin 1990.



Assemblée nationale:

Proposition de loi, rejetée par le Sénat en nouvelle lecture, no 1574;

Rapport de M. François Asensi, au nom de la commission des lois, no 1575;

Discussion et adoption le 30 juin 1990.

HST



It was just after dawn in Woody Creek, Colo., when the first plane hit the World Trade Center in New York City on Tuesday morning, and as usual I was writing about sports. But not for long. Football suddenly seemed irrelevant, compared to the scenes of destruction and utter devastation coming out of New York on TV.

Even ESPN was broadcasting war news. It was the worst disaster in the history of the United States, including Pearl Harbor, the San Francisco earthquake and probably the Battle of Antietam in 1862, when 23,000 were slaughtered in one day.

The Battle of the World Trade Center lasted about 99 minutes and cost 20,000 lives in two hours (according to unofficial estimates as of midnight Tuesday). The final numbers, including those from the supposedly impregnable Pentagon, across the Potomac River from Washington, likely will be higher. Anything that kills 300 trained firefighters in two hours is a world-class disaster.

And it was not even Bombs that caused this massive damage. No nuclear missiles were launched from any foreign soil, no enemy bombers flew over New York and Washington to rain death on innocent Americans. No. It was four commercial jetliners.

They were the first flights of the day from American and United Airlines, piloted by skilled and loyal U.S. citizens, and there was nothing suspicious about them when they took off from Newark, N.J., and Dulles in D.C. and Logan in Boston on routine cross-country flights to the West Coast with fully-loaded fuel tanks -- which would soon explode on impact and utterly destroy the world-famous Twin Towers of downtown Manhattan's World Trade Center. Boom! Boom! Just like that.

The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War now -- with somebody -- and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives.

It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy. Osama bin Laden may be a primitive "figurehead" -- or even dead, for all we know -- but whoever put those All-American jet planes loaded with All-American fuel into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon did it with chilling precision and accuracy. The second one was a dead-on bullseye. Straight into the middle of the skyscraper.

Nothing -- even George Bush's $350 billion "Star Wars" missile defense system -- could have prevented Tuesday's attack, and it cost next to nothing to pull off. Fewer than 20 unarmed Suicide soldiers from some apparently primitive country somewhere on the other side of the world took out the World Trade Center and half the Pentagon with three quick and costless strikes on one day. The efficiency of it was terrifying.

We are going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once. Who knows? Not even the Generals in what remains of the Pentagon or the New York papers calling for WAR seem to know who did it or where to look for them.

This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not guaranteed -- for anyone, and certainly not for anyone as baffled as George W. Bush. All he knows is that his father started the war a long time ago, and that he, the goofy child-President, has been chosen by Fate and the global Oil industry to finish it Now. He will declare a National Security Emergency and clamp down Hard on Everybody, no matter where they live or why. If the guilty won't hold up their hands and confess, he and the Generals will ferret them out by force.

Good luck. He is in for a profoundly difficult job -- armed as he is with no credible Military Intelligence, no witnesses and only the ghost of Bin Laden to blame for the tragedy.

OK. It is 24 hours later now, and we are not getting much information about the Five Ws of this thing.

The numbers out of the Pentagon are baffling, as if Military Censorship has already been imposed on the media. It is ominous. The only news on TV comes from weeping victims and ignorant speculators.

The lid is on. Loose Lips Sink Ships. Don't say anything that might give aid to The Enemy.


Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's books include Hell's Angels, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, The Proud Highway, Better Than Sex and The Rum Diary. His new book, Fear and Loathing in America, has just been released. A regular contributor to various national and international publications, Thompson now lives in a fortified compound near Aspen, Colo. His column, "Hey, Rube," appears each Monday on Page 2.

from Spike EP on Vimeo.

Friday, 16 January 2015

Why Pope Francis is AWESOME


Gesturing towards Alberto Gasparri, a Vatican official who organises pontifical trips and who was standing next to him on board the plane, he said: 

“If my good friend Dr Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch in the nose.”

Throwing a pretend punch, the Pope said: “It’s normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.”




Thursday, 15 January 2015

MLK Day

from Spike EP on Vimeo.

"Now — but today is January 15th, it is Martin Luther King's birthday.

Now I'll start with a very famous passage. It's not usually the passage you hear from the "I Have A Dream" speech. Almost always when the Dream speech is quoted — and now it's quoted in commercials, right? Numerous times, or on radio spots, background. King's voice, as though it's some kind of American chorus for whatever- when, at any moment we need to feel better about ourselves and about race relations. We often just skip right over the first two or three paragraphs of the speech where the central metaphor he sets up in the speech is what he called "the promissory note," in the "bank of justice."

"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. And so we have come here." Excuse me. "Five score years ago" — and here he is drawing directly off Lincoln — "five score years ago a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation." 


This was of course August 1963. A hot, a brutally hot August day, King on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. 

"This momentous decree came as a great beacon, light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak," he says, "to end the long night of their captivity." That sentence is almost directly from the Bible. 

"But one hundred years later the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty, in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come here, we've come to our nation's capital, to cash a check. When the architects of our Republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.' But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt, we refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us, upon demand, the riches of freedom and the security of justice."

I would be thrilled if you walked out of this course and were able to explain to somebody why King made the promissory note the central metaphor of his "I Have a Dream" speech, and you could somehow explain why it hadn't been cashed by 1963, and could then begin to discuss whether it's fully cashed yet. "

from Spike EP on Vimeo.


from Spike EP on Vimeo.



March on Washington, DC, August 28, 1963

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. 

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.


from Spike EP on Vimeo.

"Because you know, it was a dum-dum bullet...." 
- The Liar Rev. Billie Kyles

"Philip Mellanson, a professor and author, testified that Memphis Police Inspector Sam Evans, now deceased, told him that he ordered tactical units away from the Lorraine at the request of a specific "Memphis Minister" associated with Dr. King, whom he named.(89) In addition, other witnesses testified about their belief that the eviction of the Invaders, a group of young Memphis, African American activists, from their room at the Lorraine minutes before the shooting facilitated the assassination. One former Invader, Charles Cabbage, testified that he was told that another minister, the "SCLC Minister," a ranking member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, ordered that his group be immediately ejected.


We found nothing to support Mellanson's hearsay account that the "Memphis Minister" was the specific source of the request to remove tactical units. When we interviewed the "Memphis Minister," he denied ever making such a request. Moreover, the fact that TACT Unit 10 remained in the vicinity across the street at the fire station undermines the inference that the "Memphis Minister" conspired with law enforcement.

Likewise, nothing supports a conclusion that the eviction of the Invaders from the Lorraine, allegedly at the direction of the "SCLC Minister," is related to the assassination. We found no evidence that the Invaders had anything to do with Dr. King's security. Rather, according to associates of Dr. King and former Memphis police officers, the Invaders were young, African American activists who were attempting to associate with Dr. King. Accordingly, even if the Invaders were evicted from the Lorraine by the "SCLC Minister" or some other SCLC staff person, such action would not have diminished Dr. King's security.

from Spike EP on Vimeo.


Martin Luther King Is Slain in Memphis; A White Is Suspected; Johnson Urges Calm



Guard Called Out
Curfew Is Ordered in Memphis, but Fires and Looting Erupt
By Earl Caldwell
Special to The New York Times

RELATED HEADLINES

Scattered Violence Occurs In Harlem and Brooklyn: 12 Are Arrested Here: Widespread Disorders

President's Plea: On TV, He Deplores 'Brutal' Murder of Negro Leader

Dismay in Nation:Negroes Urge Others to Carry on Spirit of Nonviolence

OTHER HEADLINES

Johnson Delays Trip to Hawaii; May Leave Today:President Spends a Hectic Day Here and in Capital -- Sees Thant at the U.N.

Hanoi Charges U.S. Raid Far North of 20th Parallel

Humphrey Hints He'll Enter Race:Tells Unionists in Pittsburgh He Will Act Soon -- Abel and Wirtz Back Him

Johnson Shuns Role of '68 'Lame Duck,' Kennedy Was Told

Archbishop Cooke Installed; President Looks On

Memphis, Friday, April 5 -- The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who preached nonviolence and racial brotherhood, was fatally shot here last night by a distant gunman who raced away and escaped.

Four thousand National Guard troops were ordered into Memphis by Gov. Buford Ellington after the 39-year-old Nobel Prize-winning civil rights leader died.

A curfew was imposed on the shocked city of 550,000 inhabitants, 40 per cent of whom are Negro.

But the police said the tragedy had been followed by incidents that included sporadic shooting, fires, bricks and bottles thrown at policemen, and looting that started in Negro districts and then spread over the city.

White Car Sought

Police Director Frank Holloman said the assassin might have been a white man who was "50 to 100 yards away in a flophouse."

Chief of Detectives W.P. Huston said a late model white Mustang was believed to have been the killer's getaway car. Its occupant was described as a bareheaded white man in his 30's, wearing a black suit and black tie.

The detective chief said the police had chased two cars near the motel where Dr. King was shot and had halted one that had two out-of-town men as occupants. The men were questioned but seemed to have nothing to do with the killing, he said.

Rifle Found Nearby

A high-powered 30.06-caliber rifle was found about a block from the scene of the shooting, on South Main Street. "We think it's the gun," Chief Huston said, reporting it would be turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Dr. King was shot while he leaned over a second-floor railing outside his room at the Lorraine Motel. He was chatting with two friends just before starting for dinner.

One of the friends was a musician, and Dr. King had just asked him to play a Negro spiritual, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand," at a rally that was to have been held two hours later in support of striking Memphis sanitation men.

Paul Hess, assistant administrator at St. Joseph's Hospital, where Dr. King died despite emergency surgery, said the minister had "received a gunshot wound on the right side of the neck, at the root of the neck, a gaping wound."

"He was pronounced dead at 7:05 P.M. Central standard time (8:05 P.M. New York time) by staff doctors," Mr. Hess said. "They did everything humanly possible."

Dr. King's mourning associates sought to calm the people they met by recalling his messages of peace, but there was widespread concern by law enforcement officers here and elsewhere over potential reactions.

In a television broadcast after the curfew was ordered here, Mr. Holloman said, "rioting has broken out in parts of the city" and "looting is rampant."

Dr. King had come back to Memphis Wednesday morning to organize support once again for 1,300 sanitation workers who have been striking since Lincoln's Birthday. Just a week ago yesterday he led a march in the strikers' cause that ended in violence. A 16-year-old Negro was killed, 62 persons were injured and 200 were arrested.

Yesterday Dr. King had been in his second-floor room- Number 306- throughout the day. Just about 6 P.M. he emerged, wearing a silkish-looking black suit and white shirt.

Solomon Jones Jr., his driver, had been waiting to take him by car to the home of the Rev. Samuel Kyles of Memphis for dinner. Mr. Jones said later he had observed, "It's cold outside, put your topcoat on," and Dr. King had replied, "O.K., I will."

Two Men in Courtyard

Dr. King, an open-faced, genial man, leaned over a green iron railing to chat with an associate, Jesse Jackson, standing just below him in a courtyard parking lot:

"Do you know Ben?" Mr. Jackson asked, introducing Ben Branch of Chicago, a musician who was to play at the night's rally.

"Yes, that's my man!" Dr. King glowed.

The two men recalled Dr. King's asking for the playing of the spiritual. "I really want you to play that tonight," Dr. King said, enthusiastically.

The Rev. Ralph W. Abernathy, perhaps Dr. King's closest friend, was just about to come out of the motel room when the sudden loud noise burst out.

Dr. King toppled to the concrete second-floor walkway. Blood gushed from the right jaw and neck area. His necktie had been ripped off by the blast.

"He had just bent over," Mr. Jackson recalled later. "If he had been standing up, he wouldn't have been hit in the face.

Policemen 'All Over'

"When I turned around," Mr. Jackson went on, bitterly, "I saw police coming from everywhere. They said, 'where did it come from?' And I said, 'behind you.' The police were coming from where the shot came."

Mr. Branch asserted that the shot had come from "the hill on the other side of the street."

"When I looked up, the police and the sheriff's deputies were running all around," Mr. Branch declared.

"We didn't need to call the police," Mr. Jackson said. "They were here all over the place."

Mr. Kyles said Dr. King had stood in the open "about three minutes."

Mr. Jones, the driver, said that a squad car with four policemen in it drove down the street only moments before the gunshot. The police had been circulating throughout the motel area on precautionary patrols.

After the shot, Mr. Jones said, he saw a man "with something white on his face" creep away from a thicket across the street.

Someone rushed up with a towel to stem the flow of Dr. King's blood. Mr. Kyles said he put a blanket over Dr. King, but "I knew he was gone." He ran down the stairs and tried to telephone from the motel office for an ambulance.

Mr. Abernathy hurried up with a second larger towel.

Police With Helmets

Policemen were pouring into the motel area, carrying rifles and shotguns and wearing helmets.

But the King aides said it seemed to be 10 or 15 minutes before a Fire Department ambulance arrived.

Dr. King was apparently still living when he reached the St. Joseph's Hospital operating room for emergency surgery. He was borne in on a stretcher, the bloody towel over his head.

It was the same emergency room to which James H. Meredith, first Negro enrolled at the University of Mississippi, was taken after he was ambushed and shot in June, 1965, at Hernando, Miss., a few miles south of Memphis; Mr. Meredith was not seriously hurt.

Outside the emergency room some of Dr. King's aides waited in forlorn hope. One was Chauncey Eskridge, his legal adviser. He broke into sobs when Dr. King's death was announced.

"A man full of life, full of love, and he was shot," Mr. Eskridge said. "He had always lived with that expectation- but nobody ever expected it to happen."

But the Rev. Andrew Young, executive director of Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference, recalled there had been some talk Wednesday night about possible harm to Dr. King in Memphis.

Mr. Young recalled: "He said he had reached the pinnacle of fulfillment with his nonviolent movement, and these reports did not bother him."

Mr. Young believed that the fatal shot might have been fired from a passing car. "It sounded like a firecracker," he said.

In a nearby building, a newsman who had been watching a television program thought, however, that "it was a tremendous blast that sounded like a bomb."

There were perhaps 15 persons in the motel courtyard area when Dr. King was shot, all believed to be Negroes and Dr. King's associates.

Past the courtyard is a small empty swimming pool. Then comes Mulberry Street, a short street only three blocks away from storied Beale Street on the fringe of downtown Memphis.

Fire Station Nearby

On the other side of the street is a six-foot brick restraining wall, with bushes and grass atop it and a hillside going on to a patch of trees. Behind the trees is a rusty wire fence enclosing backyards of two-story brick and frame houses.

At the corner at a Butler Street is a newish-looking white brick fire station.

Police were reported to have chased a late-model blue or white car through Memphis and north to Millington. A civilian in another car that had a citizens band radio was also reported to have pursued the fleeing car and to have opened fire on it.

The police first cordoned off an area of about five blocks around the Lorraine Motel, chosen by Dr. King for his stay here because it is Negro-owned. The two-story motel is an addition to a small two-story hotel in a largely Negro area.

Mayor Henry Loeb had ordered a curfew here after last week's disorder, and National Guard units had been on duty for five days until they were deactivated Wednesday.

Last night the Mayor reinstated the curfew at 6:35 and declared:

"After the tragedy which has happened in Memphis tonight, for the protection of all our citizens, we are putting the curfew back in effect. All movement is restricted except for health or emergency reasons."

Governor Ellington, calling out the National Guard and pledging all necessary action by the state to prevent disorder, announced:

"For the second time in recent days, I most earnestly ask the people of Memphis and Shelby County to remain calm. I do so again tonight in the face of this most regrettable incident.

"Every possible action is being taken to apprehend the person or persons responsible for committing this act.

"We are also taking precautionary steps to prevent any acts of disorder. I can fully appreciate the feelings and emotions which this crime has aroused, but for the benefit of everyone, all of our citizens must exercise restraint, caution and good judgment."

National Guard planes flew over the state to bring in contingents of riot-trained highway patrolmen. Units of the Arkansas State Patrol were deputized and brought into Memphis.

Assistant Chief Bartholomew early this morning said that unidentified persons had shot from rooftops and windows at policemen eight or 10 times. He said bullets had shattered one police car's windshield, wounding two policemen with flying glass. They were treated at the same hospital where Dr. King died.

Sixty arrests were made for looting, burglary and disorderly conduct, chief Bartholomew said.

Numerous minor injuries were reported in four hours of clashes between civilians and law enforcement officers. But any serious disorders were under control by 11:15 P.M., Chief Bartholomew said. Early this morning streets were virtually empty except for patrol cars riding without headlights on.

Once Stabbed in Harlem

In his career Dr. King had suffered beatings and blows. Once- on Sept. 20, 1958- he was stabbed in a Harlem department store in New York by a Negro woman later adjudged insane.

That time he underwent a four-hour operation to remove a steel letter opener that had been plunged into his upper left chest. For a time he was critical list, but he told his wife, while in the hospital, "I don't hold any bitterness toward this woman."

In Memphis, Dr. King's chief associates met in his room after he died. They included Mr. Young, Mr. Abernathy, Mr. Jackson, the Rev. James Bevel and Hosea Williams.

They had to step across a drying pool of Dr. King's blood to enter. Someone had thrown a crumpled pack of cigarettes into the blood.

After 15 minutes they emerged. Mr. Jackson looked at the blood. He embraced Mr. Abernathy.

"Stand tall!" somebody exhorted.

"Murder! Murder!" Mr. Bevel groaned. "Doc said that's not the way."

"Doc" was what they often called Dr. King.

Then the murdered leader's aides said they would go on to the hall where tonight's rally was to have been held. They wanted to urge calm upon the mourners.

Some policemen sought to dissuade them.

But eventually the group did start out, with a police escort.

At the Federal Bureau of Investigation office here, Robert Jensen, special agent in charge, said the F.B.I. had entered the murder investigation at the request of Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Last night Dr. King's body was taken to the Shelby County morgue, according to the police. They said it would be up to Dr. Derry Francisco, county medical examiner, to order further disposition.