One year to the day before he was shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood in the chancel of The Riverside Church and delivered a prophetic message which has come to be known as his “Beyond Vietnam Speech.”
At the special event “Honoring the Radical MLK,” on Thursday, April 4, several speakers including Rev. Graylan Hagler, national presiden of Minister for Racial, Social and Economic Justice, Ramsey Clark, US Attorney General and Ben Chaney (brother of slain Freedom Summer volunteer, James Chaney) shared their recollections and personal memories of King and others. They also addressed contemporary problems including the current economic crisis, the continuing threat of war and militarism, mass incarceration, stop-and-frisk, contemporary civil rights issues like DOMA, and immigration.
Photo by Lem Peterkin
