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Martin Luther King Jr. In Berlin
- highcountess 2y ago[flagged]
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- atlas_hugged 2y agoOh how did I know the bigots would jump in these comments. Hacker News is well on its way to become the Nazi bar by allowing the thinly veiled racism to survive. A slowly boiling frog.
- k3vinw 2y agoNot just odd, but ironic that an American president who claims to admire MLK would fail to acknowledge him and in doing so helped create an optical divide in appearance between himself and the past American leaders, whom he did acknowledge, that had visited Berlin.
- k3vinw 2y ago“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
- jlev1 2y agoObama was correct in observing that he looked different from past American presidents. As for “claims to admire”, the implication that Obama doesn’t really admire MLK (and that this speech proves it!) is just ludicrous. I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you just don’t like Obama. Didn’t like him before you read this article, don’t like him now.
- k3vinw 2y agoYou’re not just going out on a limb, you’re jumping to conclusions. I’m specifically responding to the point already made in the article: “For whatever reason, Obama preferred to evoke memories of Kennedy and Reagan rather than the iconic black man he claims to greatly admire. Whether intentional or an oversight, the omission was odd, especially since his target audience was Americans, and Obama didn’t want his speech to sound too “European.”” As you can see “claims to admire” didn’t originate from me. Perhaps you didn’t read the article?
- nael_ob 2y agoThank you for sharing this. Really insightful and enlightening.
- djohnston 2y agoSuccinct and englightening - I had no knowledge of his visit to Berlin (East & West).
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- cen4 2y agoObamas is making movies for Netflix and living in Martha's Vineyard. I don't see him in the same category as MLK. At all. Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class is applicable.
- dachworker 2y agoExactly what I was going to say. Obama is a centrist establishment politician, whereas MLK was an activist which, by definition, meant that he was operating at the then extremes of the political landscape. It would be insulting to many for Obama to compare himself to the great MLK. And from the other perspective, Obama is a POTUS first and a politician second and he clearly does not like his whole persona being "the black guy".
- dudefeliciano 2y agoI mean, it didn't stop Reagan or other establishment politicians from besmirching MLK's name by just mentioning it.
- pessimizer 2y ago[flagged]
- jonnybgood 2y agoWhat is it with some people these days telling black people who and what they are? What's a "Cousin Pookie"? This sounds similar to someone who recently said a presidential candidate would make the White House smell like curry.
- pfannkuchen 2y agoIt is insincere pandering to claim to relate to legitimate struggles of an ethnic group by acting like you are part of that group, when in reality you grew up completely separate from that group and aren’t even the same ethnicity. I think the confusing part is when people act like they are offended by this when really they wouldn’t care if not for being opposed to the person politically. So it’s like insincere mimicry of offense at insincere mimicry.
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- InTheArena 2y agoGreat article. Oru view of history is all to common insular and compressed - it puts things in context that MLK was walking around Berlin at the same time as Hitler.
- Lutzb 2y agoIt's a small world. During Martin Luther King Jr. visit to Berlin he was also awarded a honorary degree by the Theological School of the Protestant Church of West Berlin. The theologian and pastor handing over the degree during the ceremony is part of our family history. We still have a picture of both of them during the ceremony. Here is a more detailed itinerary of MLKs visit to Berlin. https://www.aacvr-germany.org/dr-kings-visit-to-cold-war-berlin https://www.aacvr-germany.org/dr-kings-visit-to-cold-war-ber...
- spicymaki 2y agoThis article was very educational. I did not know that Martin Luther King Sr. was such a prominent person, and the connection of the King family with Berlin. Thank you for posting it.