In a democracy now and pacifica radio archives exclusive, we air a newly discovered recording of Martin Luther king, jr. It was december 1964, days before he received the Nobel Peace Prize in oslo, dr. King gave a major address in london on segregation, the fight for civil rights, and his support for Nelson Mandela and the antiapartheid struggle in south africa. The united kingdom, the United States decided tomorrow morning not to buy South African goods or to buy South African gold, investors and capitalists would withdraw their support for the racial tyranny that we find their, then apartheid would be brought to. Today, dr. Kings city temple address, december 7, 1964 in london. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Today is the federal holiday honoring dr. Martin luther king. He was born january 15 1929. He was assassinated april 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in memphis, tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor, organizing the Poor Peoples Campaign to address issues of Economic Justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of u. S. Foreign policy and the vietnam war. In 1964, dr. King became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Days before he received that award in oslo, norway, dr. King traveled to london. On december 7, 1964, dr. King gave a speech sponsored by the British Group christian action about the civil rights struggle in the United States as well as the Antiapartheid Movement in south africa. The speech was recorded by saul bernstein, working as the european correspondent for pacifica radio. His recording was recently discovered a director of the pacifica radio archives. This is that address by dr. Martin luther king jr. I want to talk about our struggle in the United States and before taking my seat, talk about some of the larger struggles in the whole world. Some of the more difficult struggles in places like south africa. That is a desperate, poignant question on the lips of people all over our country, and all of the world i get it almost everywhere i go in a must every press conference. It is a question of whether we are making any Real Progress in the struggle to make Racial Justice a reality in the United States of america. And whenever i seek to answer that question, on the one hand i seek to avoid an undue pessimism. On the other hand, i seek to avoid the superficial optimism. And i tried to incorporate and develop what i consider a realistic position by admitting on the one hand that we have made many significant strides over the last few years in the struggle for Racial Justice, but by admitting that before the problem is solved, we still have numerous things to do in many challenges to meet. And it is this realistic position that i would like to use as a basis for our thinking together tonight as we think about the problem in the United States. We have come a long, long way but we have a long, long way to go before the problem is solved. Now let us notice first that we have come a long, long way and i would like to say at this point that the negro himself has come a long, long way in reevaluating his own intrinsic worth. Now, in order to illustrate this, a little history is necessary. It was in the year 1619 when the first negro slaves landed on the shores of america. And they were brought there from africa. Unlike the pilgrim fathers who landed at plymouth a year later they were brought there to gain against their wills. Throughout slavery, the negro was treated in a very inhuman fashion. He was a thing to be used. Not a person to be respected. The United StatesSupreme Court rendered the decision in 1857 known as the dred scott decision which well illustrated what existed at that time. But in this decision, the Supreme Court of the United States said in step since that the negro substance that the negro is not a citizen of the United States, merely property subject to the dictates of his owner. And it went on to say that the negro has no rights. That the white man is bound to respect. And this was the idea that prevailed during the days of slavery. With the growth of savory, became necessary to give some justification for it. You know it seems to be a fact of life that human beings cannot continue to do wrong. Without eventually reaching out for some thin rationalization to close an obvious wrong in the beautiful garments of righteousness. And this is exactly what happened during the days of slavery. There were those who even misused the bible and religion to give some justification for slavery and to crystallize the patterns of the status quote. And so it was argued from some pulpits that the negro was inferior by nature because of noah;ss curse upon the sovereign of ham. Servants, be obedient to your master. And one brother have probably read the logic of the great philosopher aristotle. Aristotle did a great deal to bring into being what we now know as formal logic and the sauce of formal logic and philosophy. It is known as a major premise a Minor Premise, and a conclusion. So this brother decided to put his argument for the inferiority of the negro in the framework of an he could say all men are made in the image of god. Then came the Minor Premise god is not a negro, therefore, the negro is not a man. [laughter] this was the kind of reasoning that prevailed. While living with the conditions of slavery and then later segregation, many negroes lost faith in themselves. Many came to feel perhaps they were less than human. Many came to feel they were inferior. This, it seems to me, is the greatest tragedy of slavery, the greatest tragedy of segregation, not merely what it does to the individual physically, but what it does to one psychologically. Is cigars the soul of the segregated as well as the segregatedor. It gives them a false sense of superior while living the segregated the feeling of inferiority. This is what happened. Then something happened to the negro and circumstances made it possible and necessary for him to travel more. The appeal. Two world wars and rate great depression. The background gave way to urban industrial light. His Economic Life was gradually rising through the growth of industry, development of organized labor, and expanded educational opportunities. Even his cultural life was gradually rising through the study decline steady decline of illiteracy. All of these forces conjoined because the negro in america could look at himself. The negro masses began to reevaluate themselves. And then Something Else happened along with all of this. The negro in the United States turned his eyes and mind to africa. He noticed the magnificent independence taking place on the stage of african history. And noticing the developments and noticing what was happening and noticing what was being done on the part of his Black Brothers and sisters in africa gave him a new sense of dignity in the United States and a new sense of selfrespect. The negro came to feel that he was somebody. His religion revealed to him that god loves all of his children and that all men are made in his image. And that the basic thing about a man is not his specificity, not the texture of us here or the color of his skin, but his eternal dignity and worth. And so the negro in america could cry out unconsciously with the elephant voice, black complexion cannot forfeit natures claim. Skin may differ, but affection dwells in black and white the same. And where i so tell as to reach the pole or to grasp the ocean as it stands, i must be measured by my soul. The mind is the standard of the man. And with this new sense of dignity and this new sense of self respect, a new negro came into being with the new determination to suffer, to struggle, to sacrifice, and even to die if necessary in order to be free. In this reveals we have come a long, long way since 1619. But to be true to the facts, it is necessary say that only has the negro reevaluated his own intrinsic worth, the whole nation has come along, long way in extending the frontiers of civil rights. I would like to mention just a few things that have happened in our country which reveal this. 50 years ago, even 25 years ago a year hardly past when numerous negroes were not brutally lynched by some vicious mob. Fortunately, lynchings have about ceased today. If one would go back to the turnofthecentury, you would find that in the southern part of the United States, you had very few negroes registered to vote. By 1948, that number had leaped to about 750,000. 1960, 1 million 200,000. When we went into the president ial election just a few weeks ago, that number had linked to more than 2 million. We went into that election with more than 2 million negroes registered to vote in the south, which meant if we in the Civil Rights Movement by working hard have been able to add more than 800,000 new negroes as registered voters in the last three years. This reveals that we have made strides. And then when we look at the question of Economic Justice we can at least say some strides have been made. The average negro wage earner who is employed today in the United States earns 10 times more than the average negro wage earner 12 years ago. The National Income of the negro is now little better than 28 billion year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States and more than the National Budget of canada. This reveals we have made some strides in this area. The probably more than anything else, and you have read about it so much here in all of the world, im sure, we have noticed the gradual decline and even demise of the system of racial segregation. The legal history of racial segregation had its beginning in 1896. Many people feel racial segregation has been a reality and the United States a long, long time, but the fact is, that this was a rather recent phenomenon in our country. Just a little better than 60 years old. And it had its legal beginning with the decision known as the ferguson decision. Which said in substance that separate but equal facilities could exist, and it made the doctrine of separate but equal the law the land. We all know what happened as a result of the old plessy doctrine. It was a strict enforcement of the separate without the slightest intention to abide by the equal. In the new negro experienced the bleakness of nagging injustice. Then something marvelous happened. The Supreme Court of our nation in 1954 examined the legal body of segregation and on may 17 of that year, pronounced it institutionally dead. It is said in substance that the old plessy doctrine must go. That separate facilities are unequal and the segregated child on the basis of his race is to deny that child equal protection of the law. And so weve seen many changes since that momentous decision was rendered in 1954, came as a red beacon light of hope to millions of his inherited people all over disinherited people all over our nation. Then Something Else happened which brought joy to all of our hearts. It happened this year. It was last year after the struggle in birmingham alabama the late president kennedy came to realize that there was a basic issue that our country had to grapple with for the sense of concern and sense of immediacy. He made a great speech. A few days before, really, was on the same day the university of alabama was to be integrated and governor wallace stood in the door and try to block that integration. Mr. Kennedy had to have the National Guard federalized. He stood before the nation and said in a liquid terms eloquent terms that problems we face in the area of civil rights is not merely a political issue. It is not merely an economic issue. It is a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and as modern as the constitution. It is a question of whether we will treat our negro brothers as we ourselves would like to be treated. And on the hills of that great speech, he went and recommended to the congress of our nation the must copper rings of civil rights bill ever recommended comprehensive civil rights bill ever recommended. Fortunately, after many months of battles for a period we got a little tired of that. There are some men in our country who like to talk a lot. Maybe your bread about the filibuster. You know they get bogged down in the paralysis of analysis and they will go on and on and on and they wanted to talk to build a debt. President Lyndon Johnson got to work. He started calling congressman and senators in and started meeting day in and day out with influential people in the country. And making it clear that bill had to pass as attribute of the late president kennedy, but also as a tribute to the greatness of the country. There is an expression of its dedication to the american dream. It was that great day last summer that that bill came into being and it was on july 2 that mr. Johnson signed that bill and it became the law the land. And so in america now, we have the civil rights bill and im happy to report to you that by a large that bill is being implemented in communities all across the south. We have seen some surprising levels of compliance, even in some communities and the state of mississippi. And whenever you can find anything write a mississippi things are getting better. [laughter] dr. Martin luther king speaking in london december 7 1964. We will return to the speech after this break. [music break] nina simone. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In this democracy now exclusive, we return to Martin Luther king, jr. In his own words from a recording recently discovered the pacifica radio archives. This is from december 7, 1964 in london, just days before dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in oslo, norway. We can never forget the fact that just this summer, three civil rights workers were brutally murdered near philadelphia, mississippi. All of this reveals to us we have not achieved the level of brotherhood, we have not achieved the brotherhood that we need and we must have in our nation. We still have a long, long way to go. I mentioned Voter Registration and the fact we have been able to add about 800,000 new registered voters in the last two or three years. The fact it is over 2 million now. I guess that sounded like Real Progress, and it does represent some progress, but let me give you other signs. There are still more than 10 million negroes living in the southern part of the United States. And some 6 million of the negroes living in the southern part of the United States are of voting age. And yet only 2 million a registered. This means that 4 million remain unregistered. Not merely because their apathetic, not because their complacent. This may be true of some few but because all types of conniving methods are still being used to keep negroes from becoming registered voters. Complex literacy tests given which make it almost impossible for anybody to pass the test, even if you have a phd degree in any field or law degree from the best law schools of the world. And that actual economic reprisals often taken out against negroes who seek to register and vote. And then some that actually are faced with physical violence and sometimes physical death. This reveals we have a great deal that must be done in this area. I mentioned Economic Justice. Im sure that figure 28 billion dollars sounded very large. That is a lot of money. But i must go on and give you the other side if im to be honest about the picture. And that is the fact that 42 of the negro families of the United States still are in less than 2000 a year while just 16 of the white families earn less than 2000 the year. What he 1 of the negro families of america are less than 1000 a year while just 5 of the white families earn less than 1000 year. And then we face the fact that 88 of the negro families of america earn less than 5,000 a year while just 58 of the white families earn less than 5,000 a year. So we can see there is still a great divide between the haves so to speak, and the havenots. If america is to continue to grow and progress and develop and move on toward its greatness, this problem must the solved. This economic problem is getting more serious because of many forces alive in our world. Many years, negroes were denied adequate educational opportunities. For many years negroes or even denied a Partnership Training apprentiship training. This meant the negro ended up being limited by a large to unskilled labor. Now because of the forces of automation, these are the jobs that are now passing away. And so the negro way except in a city like to troy, michigan and discovers he is 28 of the population and 72 of the unemployed. Unable to grapple with the problem, our federal government will have to develop massive retraining programs, Massive Public works programs so that automation c