Abraham Zapruder was a local Dallas area guy who had a wife and family, and a Bell & Howell movie camera.
He loved taking home movies of his family, and on November 22, 1963, he was at Dealey Plaza with his camera, to film the president's motorcade.
The public was not allowed to see that film until 1975. It had to be withheld from public view for 12 years because... ?
-30-
The Washington Post had an article last week about taste-testing 12 supermarket marinara sauces.
It was a break from political news.
It got 2800 reader comments.
----------------- I was in the local Stop & Shop in Johnston, Rhode Island one day and saw Victoria Marinara on sale. As I was reaching down to get it I sensed two people behind me watching. I turned around to two little old Italian women, both dressed in black, nodding and smiling their approval. They said something in Italian and laughed.
I wonder what that was?
----------- That was the ghost of my Italian grandmother from Providence making fun of jarred sauce. She grew her own tomatoes, canned them, and made pasta from scratch every weekend. There's nothing like it, anywhere.
--------------- My Italian grandfather (lived off Academy Ave.) bought two lots, one for the house and one for the sprawling garden. His basement was a wonderland of jarred vegetables.
Unbelievable Sunday dinners.
----------------- Cucina Antica Tomato Basil is my favorite store bought. They use San Marzano tomatoes. Simple ingredients list. No added sugar. Also no garlic (just onion) which I prefer. Homemade with fresh garlic can be good but I don't tend to like it in jarred sauces.
-------------- I get ripe Roma tomatoes from the farmers' market and garlic and onions. Sausage if they have a good spicy lean sausage there. And I simmer it for a few hours on the stove with herbs, add some red wine to finish, and put it in marinara bottles to put in the freezer. No extra salt or chemicals.
----------------------- If it has sausage in it, it's not marinara. Anyway, this is about jarred sauce for when you don't have hours on end to shop, peel tomatoes, and simmer.
______________________________
___________________________
Three movies that can give us perspective on the assassination of JFK and the events that followed can be watched on Amazon Prime:
JFK (1991)
rent or buy
Nixon (1995)
rent or buy
Parkland (2013)
free with Prime
________________________
Okay, there's another one that's free with Prime:
JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass (2021)
(they discuss the original JFK movie and various theories and the Warren Commission, etc.)
-30-
I wanted to write this week about the assassination of President Kennedy and the mysteries it left: I had ideas for the titles I would put on each day's blog post, Monday - Friday. Partway through the week, I thought maybe I had not chosen good titles because each day the title didn't really express what that day's essay was about.
But the reason I chose those blog titles was because they were all phrases, names, words that had to do with the November 1963 assassination and the feeling I had of being both confused and enlightened by those words, at different times -- all through my childhood and growing up years, the words Dealey Plaza, grassy knoll, Zapruder film, magic bullet, and the "patsy" drifted through people's conversations, news specials, and articles, like crackly autumn leaves before fretful gusts of wind.
Some of those things, I knew what they were, and some I didn't know until later on.
(A patsy? Oswald said this word about himself; he said, "I'm just a patsy!" -- patsy was an old-fashioned slang term for someone being set up to "take the fall" for someone else's crime.)
Borrowing the phrase from Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Bob Dylan called this song (which he released on You Tube in 2020) "Murder Most Foul".
♪ ♪♫
'Twas a dark day in Dallas - November '63
The day that will live on in infamy
President Kennedy was riding high
A good day to be living and a good day to die
Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb
Say wait a minute boys, do you know who I am?
Of course we do, we know who you are
Then they blew off his head when he was still in the car
Shot down like a dog in broad daylight
'Twas a matter of timing and the timing was right
You got unpaid debts and we've come to collect
We're gon' kill you with hatred and without any respect
We'll mock you and shock you, we'll grin in your face
We've already got someone here to take your place
The day that they blew out the brains of the king
Thousands were watching, no one saw a thing
It happened so quickly - so quick by surprise
Right there in front of everyone's eyes
Greatest magic trick ever under the sun
Perfectly executed, skillfully done
Wolfman, oh wolfman, oh wolfman, howl
Rub a dub dub - it's murder most foul
Hush lil children, you'll soon understand
The Beatles are coming they're gonna hold your hand
Slide down the banister, go get your coat
Ferry 'cross the Mersey and go for the throat
There's three bums comin' all dressed in rags
Pick up the pieces and lower the flags
I'm going to Woodstock, it's the Aquarian Age
Then I'll go over to Altamont and sit near the stage
Put your head out the window, let the good times roll
There's a party going on behind the grassy knoll
Stack up the bricks and pour the cement
Don't say Dallas don't love you, Mr. President
Put your foot in the tank and step on the gas
Try to make it to the triple underpass
Black face singer - white face clown
Better not show your faces after the sun goes down
I'm in the red-light district like a cop on the beat
Living in a nightmare on Elm Street
When you're down on Deep Ellum put your money in your shoe
Don't ask what your country can do for you
Cash on the barrel head, money to burn
Dealey Plaza, make a left hand turn
Go down to the crossroads, try to flag a ride
That's the place where Faith, Hope and Charity died
Shoot 'em while he runs, boy, shoot 'em while you can
See if you can shoot the Invisible Man
Goodbye, Charlie, goodbye Uncle Sam
Frankly, Miss Scarlet, I don't give a damn
What is the truth and where did it go
Ask Oswald and Ruby - they oughta know
Shut your mouth, says the wise old owl
Business is business and it's murder most foul
Tommy can you hear me, I'm the Acid Queen
I'm ridin' in a long black Lincoln limousine
Ridin' in the back seat, next to my wife
Heading straight on into the afterlife
I'm leaning to the left, got my head in her lap
Oh Lord, I've been led into some kind of a trap
We ask no quarter, no quarter do we give
We're right down the street from the street where you live
They mutilated his body and took out his brain
What more could they do, they piled on the pain
But his soul was not there where it was supposed to be at
For the last fifty years they've been searching for that
Freedom, oh freedom, freedom over me
Hate to tell you, Mister, but only dead men are free
Send me some loving - tell me no lie
Throw the gun in the gutter and walk on by
Wake up, Little Suzie, let's go for a drive
Cross the Trinity River, let's keep hope alive
Turn the radio on, don't touch the dials
Parkland Hospital's only six more miles
You got me dizzy Miss Lizzy, you filled me with lead
That magic bullet of yours has gone to my head
I'm just a patsy like Patsy Cline
I never shot anyone from in front or behind
Got blood in my eyes, got blood in my ear
I'm never gonna make it to the New Frontier
Zapruder's film, I've seen that before
Seen it thirty-three times, maybe more
It's vile and deceitful - it's cruel and it's mean
Ugliest thing that you ever have seen
They killed him once, they killed him twice
Killed him like a human sacrifice
The day that they killed him, someone said to me,
"Son, the age of the anti-Christ has just only begun."
Air Force One coming in through the gate
Johnson sworn in at two thirty-eight
Let me know when you decide to throw in the towel
It is what it is and it's murder most foul
What's New Pussycat - what'd I say
I said the soul of a nation been torn away
It's beginning to go down into a slow decay
And that it's thirty-six hours past judgment day
Wolfman Jack, he's speaking in tongues
He's going on and on at the top of his lungs
Play me a song, Mr. Wolfman Jack
Play it for me in my long Cadillac
Play that Only The Good Die Young
Take me to the place where Tom Dooley was hung
Play St. James Infirmary in the court of King James
If you want to remember, better write down the names
Play Etta James too, play I'd Rather Go Blind
Play it for the man with the telepathic mind
Play John Lee Hooker play Scratch My Back
Play it for that strip club owner named Jack
Guitar Slim - Goin' Down Slow
Play it for me and for Marilyn Monroe
And please, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Play it for the First Lady, she ain't feeling that good
Play Don Henley - play Glenn Frey
Take it to the Limit and let it go by
And play it for Carl Wilson, too
Lookin' far, far away down Gower Avenue
Play Tragedy, play Twilight Time
Take Me Back to Tulsa to the scene of the crime
Play another one and Another One Bites the Dust
Play the Old Rugged Cross and in God We Trust
Ride the Pink Horse down that Long, Lonesome Road
Stand there and wait for his head to explode
Play Mystery Train for Mr. Mystery
The man who fell down dead, like a rootless tree
Play it for the Reverend, play it for the Pastor
Play it for the dog that's got no master
Play Oscar Peterson and play Stan Getz
Play Blue Sky, play Dickie Betts
Play Art Pepper, play Thelonious Monk
Charlie Parker and all that junk
All that junk and All That Jazz
Play something for The Birdman of Alcatraz
Play Buster Keaton play Harold Lloyd
Play Bugsy Siegel play Pretty Boy Floyd
Play all the numbers, play all the odds
Play Cry Me A River for the Lord of the Gods
Play number nine, play number six
Play it for Lindsey and Stevie Nicks
Play Nat King Cole, play Nature Boy
Play Down in the Boondocks for Terry Malloy
Play It Happened One Night and One Night of Sin
There's twelve million souls that are listening in
Play the Merchant of Venice, play the merchants of death
Play Stella by Starlight for Lady Macbeth
Don't worry Mr. President, help's on the way
Your brothers are comin', there'll be hell to pay
Brothers? What brothers? What's this about hell?
Tell 'em we're waitin' - keep coming - we'll get 'em as well
Love Field is where his plane touched down
But it never did get back up off of the ground
Was a hard act to follow, second to none
They killed him on the Altar of the Rising Sun
Play Misty for me and that Old Devil Moon
Play Anything Goes and Memphis in June
Play Lonely at the Top and Lonely Are the Brave
Play it for Houdini spinning around in his grave
Play Jelly Roll Morton, play Lucille
Play Deep in a Dream and play Drivin' Wheel
Play Moonlight Sonata in F sharp
And Key to the Highway by the king of the harp
Play Marchin' Through Georgia and Dumbarton's Drums
Play Darkness and death will come when it comes
Play Love Me or Leave Me by the great Bud Powell
Play the Blood Stained Banner - play Murder Most Foul
____________________________
-30-
Bobby Kennedy; Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
Jack Ruby was the name of the man who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24th, 1963.
Jack Ruby.
Ruby.
It was an easy name to remember, and it sounded -- sporty.
His name when he was born was Jacob Leon Rubenstein.
---------------------------------------------
President Kennedy, murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Lee Harvey Oswald, murdered by Jack Ruby.
Ruby was the owner of a nightclub in Dallas.
[Wikipedia excerpt] ----------------------- In September 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald, shooting him on impulse, and out of grief over Kennedy's assassination.
These findings were challenged by various critics who suggest that Ruby was involved with major figures in organized crime and that he was acting as part of an overall plot surrounding the assassination of Kennedy. ----------------------- [end / excerpt]
A Dallas jury found Ruby guilty and sentenced him to death. His conviction was appealed later on and he was going to have a new trial. Before that could take place, however, Ruby got sick in prison and died, at the age of 55.
I was in second grade, then, in Mineral City, Ohio.
(I remember riding in the car and leaning forward from the back seat to ask my parents where was Jack Ruby and what happened to him, and they answered that he was in jail, and was very sick.)
I would go for long periods of time in my life, years maybe, and never think about John Fitzgerald Kennedy, or the assassination, and then something would remind me.
In 1991 a movie came out titled JFK -- it was directed by Oliver Stone. Back then I paid attention to movies coming out, but I didn't go to see all of them. I was going to skip JFK because from the title I assumed it was a biography of his life, and I sort of knew enough about his life story, I thought. At that point I was just interested in other kinds of movies.
Then there were so many articles and TV interviews with people bitching about this movie and warning us all to Not go see it.
Official word and interpretation of the president's assassination had been given by the Warren Commission, their report having been released September 24, 1964. Here we were, 27 years later, and the JFK movie was questioning the Warren Commission's conclusions, and all these apoplectic critics were screaming, "You can't question! Noooooooooooooooo!"
Which made me suspicious. Oh, self-proclaimed experts in the "establishment" (if we're still calling it that) are telling me I must not see a movie? I'd better definitely see it.
When the movie came to our state, I was working in the state capital during the legislative session -- a group of us went to see JFK together: a newspaper guy, three other lobbyists, and me.
Four years later another Oliver Stone-directed movie came out, called Nixon. I didn't see it until about ten years ago.
At 0:55:17 in that movie Nixon says, "If I'd been president, they never would have killed me."
At 1:12:00 he's discussing "Track 2" -- activities the CIA was doing that were unknown to their bosses. The aide says, "Why didn't Kennedy get the blame for any of that?"
Nixon says, "Because he didn't know about it! They didn't tell him -- didn't want him to get the credit."
As he talks about this shady stuff, and the Camera pans along a wall with a framed painting of Abraham Lincoln on it, a song plays very softly in the soundtrack.
♪ ♫
Never know how much I love you
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me
I get a fever that's so hard to bear
You give me fever
When you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight
Fever! In the mornin', a-fever all through the night
Sun lights up the daytime
Moon lights up the night...
_________________________________
On You Tube type in
Peggy Lee - Fever (Lyrics)
uploader / channel: Mr. Sandman
and Play.
-30-
Friday, November 22, 1963
1:00 p.m. Central Time
President Kennedy dies from bullet wounds.
Sunday, November 24, 1963
11:20 a.m. Central Time
Lee Harvey Oswald (alleged assassin of the president) dies from bullet wounds.
The two deaths were separated by less than 48 hours.
At the time, as a little child, I didn't put together the idea that Oswald might have been murdered to keep him from telling whatever he knew.
All I thought at the time was,
'a very bad man shot the president, and then another very bad man shot him'
Like a chain reaction.
----------------------- It was only decades later, when I thought back over some of those events, I saw the idea that -- Yeah, Oswald was taken out very very soon after the president died. Any defense of himself that Oswald had would never be heard by the American people. And any information he had would never come to light. It would die with him.
Oswald's death came less than 48 hours after Kennedy's.
Very quick.
Before he could talk.
Fast and efficient.
Less than 48 hours.
Less than 48 hours.
Sometimes people look at the assassination of the president and the surrounding events and they get very close -- like a close-up with a camera, and they study details and follow paths to where they may lead. Listening to interviews, watching documentaries, examining possible clues....
But when you pull back the "Camera" and look at the overall big picture -- I see three things.
1. Oswald, killed by Jack Ruby, less than 48 hours after Pres. Kennedy died.
2. The U.S. escalated its involvement in the Vietnam War starting in August of 1964, less than a year after Pres. Kennedy's death.
3. Documents containing information about the JFK assassination were kept away from the American public for decades -- some of them were just released a month or so ago, at the end of 2022 -- that's 59 years of keeping secrets from American citizens.
59 years.
59 years.
59 years.
____________________________
48 hours
48 hours
48 hours
59 years
59 years
59 years
Back, and to the left
Back, and to the left....
_______________________________
On You Tube type in
Gimme Shelter (Remastered 2019)
uploader / channel: The Rolling Stones
♫ ♫ ♪
Ooh, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Ooh yeah I'm gonna fade away
War, children
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our streets today...
Back. And to the left.
-30-
Sunday, November 24, 1963
It was two days after the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. We went to church and then came home. My mother was in the kitchen preparing lunch.
In the living room the television set was on. My dad was sitting on an antique rocking chair. I was on the floor doing something -- playing with dolls, or marbles, or coloring with crayons in a coloring book.
We were waiting, because we were going to get to see, on TV, Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who had allegedly shot and killed President Kennedy two days before.
The desire to see Oswald came from shocked curiosity and horror, I guess. As a child, if I'd been alone I would not have looked for this info on TV, but since my father was going to watch it, I stayed in the room and waited with him.
('We're going to -- see -- Oswald.')
And then on the television screen, in black-and-white, a bunch of men wearing hats... and my dad stood up very suddenly and called out toward the kitchen in shock and disbelief, "My God, they shot him!"
______________________________
On You Tube, type in
Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Official Audio)
uploader / channel: Bob Dylan
And Play.
♪ ♫ ♫ ♪
Well, it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It don't matter, anyhow
An' it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If you don't know by now
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
Look out your window and -- I'll be gone
You're the reason I'm a-trav'lin' on
But don't think twice, it's all right
It ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
That light I -- never knowed
An' it ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
I'm on the dark side of the road
Still I wish there was somethin' you would do or say
To try and make me change my mind and stay
We never did too much talkin' anyway
So don't think twice, it's all right
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
Like you never did before
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
I can't hear you anymore
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' all the way down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I give her my heart, but she wanted my soul
But don't think twice, it's all right
I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road, babe
Where I'm bound, I can't tell
But goodbye's too good a word, gal
So I'll just say fare thee well
I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind
You could have done better but -- I don't mind
You just kinda wasted my -- precious time
But don't think twice, it's all right
______________________________
{"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" -- a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, recorded on November 14th of that year, and released on the 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and as the b-side of the "Blowin' in the Wind" single.)
-30-
November 22, 1963 was a Friday. I was five years old, and not in kindergarten until the next fall.
So I was outside playing and went indoors for some reason. As you came in the front door of our house in Akron, Ohio, straight ahead were stairs leading up to the second floor. To the left was a dining room and a kitchen, separated by a fascinating (to me) swinging door.
To the right was the living room. My parents were standing in the living room, sort of crying softly. The television set was on.
Grown-ups crying was strange and unusual, to me.
People watching TV in the middle of the day was strange and unusual.
And people watching TV while standing up was weird, too.
I stood silent and motionless in the doorway. I didn't have any words to describe this scenario. I couldn't read and write yet, though I could write my name and say the letters of the alphabet. However, these skills and memorizations did not cover this situation.
I guess I asked what was wrong and someone answered, "President Kennedy has been killed."
---------------------------------
I only knew President Kennedy's name, at that time, because my mother had been reading the fairy tales aloud to me, and since there was always a King or Queen in those stories, I asked her one day, "Who is the King of our country?"
And she looked kind of surprised and said, "Well, we don't have a king. We are a democracy, we have a president. The people vote for him."
That sounded good to me.
"So, who is our president?"
"Kennedy."
________________________________
On You Tube type in
Jumpin' Jack Flash
uploader / channel: The Rolling Stones
and Play.
♫ ♫ ♪
One, two!
I was born -- in a crossfire hurricane
And I howled at the morning drivin' rain
But it's all -- right -- now, in fact it's a gas
But it's all right, I'm jumpin' jack flash
It's a gas, gas, gas...
-30-
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou does overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
John Donne
-30-
More information out on the situation in Virginia where a six-year-old boy brought a gun to school and shot his teacher:
The family of the child has now put out a statement --
1. They are saying the gun was secured
2. They say the child has "an acute disability"
3. There was a policy for the child where one or the other of his parents had to be with him in the classroom every day
4. The parents stopped showing up to school the week of the shooting.
WHAT?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|| If the gun was "secured," the kid could not have got it. He got it and brought it to school, so it must not have been "secured." Lying??!!
|| Claiming "acute disability" -- classic bid for pity, after their spawn shoots up the joint - ??!!
|| The parents stopped attending class with their kid because............................................. they didn't wanna-get-shot??!!
None of this makes sense, to me.
They have a lawyer now -- they're going to keep on saying, "The gun was secured" in a typical "that's-our-story-and-we're-sticking-to-it" strategy.
----------------------------------------------
I did some substitute-teaching in the high school in 2006 -- at that time I thought it was fun and interesting.
Now, if I had a teaching degree and I was offered a teaching job anyplace, for one year, to be paid a trillion dollars, I would say No.
(And I could use a trillion dollars.)
But this is just ridiculous.
Instead of "cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs" our society has gone "gaga-for-guns."
One of the articles about the incident quoted someone who said a six-year-old could not know the meaning of death.
That's not true. I was just barely five when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, and I knew what death meant. I don't know how I knew that, or where I learned it.
But I knew what it meant. I knew if the president was dead, he was not coming back, and he could not be president anymore, and the Vice President would have to step into that job.
The president was dead and had gone to Heaven.
Where do these article-people come up with this shit?
"A six-year-old doesn't know what death is."
Blah-blah-blah.
-30-
I was listening to this song and it mentions Beale Street. For a long time, if I heard "Beale Street" I always thought it was in New Orleans, but that's wrong, it's in Memphis, Tennessee.
♪♫ ♫
Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
W.C. Handy, won't you look down over me?
Yeah, I got a first class ticket
But I'm as blue as a boy can be
Then I'm walking in Memphis
Was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel?
Saw the ghost of Elvis
On Union Avenue
Followed him up to the gates of Graceland
Then I watched him walk right through...
[On You Tube, type in
Marc Cohn - Walking in Memphis (Official Music Video)
uploader / channel: RHINO
... and Play]
♫ ♪ ♪ When I was walking in Memphis
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel?
They've got catfish on the table
They've got gospel in the air
And Reverend Green be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prayer
But, boy, you've got a prayer in Memphis
Now Muriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see her
And they asked me if I would
Do a little number
And I sang with all my might
She said
"Tell me are you a Christian, child?"
And I said "Ma'am, I am tonight"
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
Was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
But do I really feel the way I feel?
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
(Walking in Memphis)
But do I really feel the way I feel?
Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
________________________________
{"Walking In Memphis" -- written and recorded by Marc Cohn}
-30-
Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?"
I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there.
I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would even go by the way that the man for whom I am named had his habitat. And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church of Wittenberg. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating President by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would even come up to the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation. And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but "fear itself." But I wouldn't stop there.
Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy."
...And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn't done, and done in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period to see what is unfolding. And I'm happy that He's allowed me to be in Memphis.
...Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that?
He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.
...Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be -- and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out.
That's the issue. And we've got to say to the nation: We know how it's coming out. For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.
We aren't going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don't know what to do. I've seen them so often. I remember in Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that majestic struggle there, we would move out of the 16th Street Baptist Church day after day; by the hundreds we would move out.
And Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth, and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around."
Bull Connor next would say, "Turn the fire hoses on." And as I said to you the other night, Bull Connor didn't know history. He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn't relate to the transphysics that we knew about.
And that was the fact that there was a certain kind of fire that no water could put out. And we went before the fire hoses; we had known water.
If we were Baptist or some other denominations, we had been immersed.
If we were Methodist, and some others, we had been sprinkled, but we knew water.
That couldn't stop us.
And we just went on before the dogs and we would look at them; and we'd go on before the water hoses and we would look at it, and we'd just go on singing "Over my head I see freedom in the air." And then we would be thrown in the paddy wagons, and sometimes we were stacked in there like sardines in a can. And they would throw us in, and old Bull would say, "Take 'em off," and they did; and we would just go in the paddy wagon singing, "We Shall Overcome."
And every now and then we'd get in jail, and we'd see the jailers looking through the windows being moved by our prayers, and being moved by our words and our songs. And there was a power there which Bull Connor couldn't adjust to; and so we ended up transforming Bull into a steer, and we won our struggle in Birmingham. Now we've got to go on in Memphis just like that. I call upon you to be with us when we go out Monday.
...I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us. The pilot said over the public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with anything on the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."
And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!
_____________________________
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968)
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The news yesterday reported that Lisa Marie Presley died, at the age of 54.
She was married four times.
She recorded three albums --
To Whom It May Concern (2003)
Now What (2005)
Storm & Grace (2012) - produced by T Bone Burnett (who played guitar in Bob Dylan's band during the 1970s).
On Amazon, her albums have the label, "Currently unavailable."
I want to look on You Tube, see if some of her songs and / or albums are on there....
I remember reading an article about Lisa Marie, maybe back in the '90s -- the thing that stayed with me was her description of moving her children from one hotel room to another, trying to dodge photographers or some other type of publicity-seekers. She said something like -- This is what I sometimes have to do -- we'll get it done.
Sort of a low-key determination.
Decades before that, I remember a photograph of Elvis and Priscilla Presley in the local paper. I was fascinated and a little intimidated by Priscilla's hair -- it was so dark, and so high.
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