Mlk

MLK Economic Lens

By kloren18048

  • An Imaginary Letter

    In a November 1956, King gave a sermon presenting an imaginary leter from the apostle Paul to American Christians, which stated, "Oh America, how often have you taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes... God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty."

  • Economic Policy Institute

    Economic Policy Institute reports that, in 1962, a family unit in the top one percent of U.S. households had approximately 125 times the wealth of an average household.

  • "I Have a Dream"

    Many were not aware that "the occasion fo that speech were officially known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, The march called for a 'massive Federal Public Works program to provide jobs for all the unemployed and spoke of the twin evils of discrimination and economic deprivation."

  • Speech at Riverside Church

    King's famous speech at Riverside Church took place in April 1967 in New York City. King made an indictment of a dugetary imbalance that continues to this day. "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift."

  • Where Do We Go From Here

    One of King's most sustained pieces of economic reflection appeared in his book "Where Do We Go From Here: Choas or Community?" The work provides an imporant window into King's thinkin gat the end of his life. He argued that unless working American and the poor were able to obtain good jobs an dincrease their purchasing power, their ability to pump money back into the enconomy, it would be "sapped of its dynamism.`

  • Poor People's Campaign

    The Poor People's Campaign was conceived to create the political pressure required to enact the types of economic changes that Dr. King and his advisors believed were necessary. "It didn't cost the nation one penny to integrate lunch counters" King said.

  • King's Belief

    Just before King was assassinated, he stated, "We are here; we are poor; we don't have any money; you have made us this way...and we've come to stay until you do something about it."