{"id":3709,"date":"2020-01-20T10:09:56","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T18:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orderlyrandomness.com\/blog\/?p=3709"},"modified":"2020-01-27T13:04:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T21:04:00","slug":"mlk-urban-myth-or-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orderlyrandomness.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/20\/mlk-urban-myth-or-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"MLK: urban myth or truth?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Today is the day we celebrate this monumental man. The above image has been floating around. So sweet. I could see it being a true story (but it could just be a myth, you know the world is full of emotional manipulators, so…).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the serious side,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you didn’t already know, MLK’s St. Augustine trip was at a pivotal time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

King visited St. Augustine for the first time on 18 May 1964. Speaking at a Baptist church on 27 May, he told the congregation that segregation would soon be over in St. Augustine \u201cbecause trouble don\u2019t last always\u201d (King, 27 May 1964). In the early morning of 29 May, the house SCLC rented for King in St. Augustine was sprayed by gunfire. On 11 June, the day after the Senate voted to end the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act, King, Ralph Abernathy<\/strong><\/a>, and several others were arrested when they requested service at a segregated restaurant. Throughout June, SCLC led evening marches to the Old Slave Market, often facing counter demonstrations by the Klan, and provoking violence that garnered national media attention. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the violence continued, King appealed to the federal government for assistance, asking the White House to pressure prominent white citizens to negotiate in good faith. Although by late June 1964 King was eager to leave St. Augustine and focus SCLC efforts on Alabama, he did not want to negatively affect the passage of the Civil Rights Act. When, on 18 June 1964, a Grand Jury called on King and SCLC to leave St. Augustine for one month to diffuse the situation, claiming that they had disrupted \u201cracial harmony\u201d in the city, King replied that the Grand Jury\u2019s request was \u201can immoral one,\u201d as it asked \u201cthe Negro community to give all, and the white community to give nothing.\u201d \u201cSt. Augustine,\u201d he insisted, had \u201cnever had peaceful race relations<\/strong>\u201d (King, 19 June 1964).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can read the article that came from here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Time has passed<\/a> and events almost forgotten by St. Augustine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now this is no urban myth. St. Augustine,\u201d he insisted, had \u201cnever had peaceful race relations<\/strong>\u201d<\/em> He’s right. Watch at about the 22 minute mark: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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St Augustine Civil Rights Demonstrations<\/a><\/h4>

This film provides extensive footage of the St. Augustine civil rights demonstrations. It shows demonstrations by blacks on the beach in St. Augustine, counter demonstrations by whites, speeches made by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Governor Farris Bryant, and speeches by segregationists such as Reverend Connie Lynch, Richard “Hoss” Manucy, and Klansman J.B.<\/p><\/blockquote>