August 28, 2013

Speech

Fifty years ago Wednesday, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the most memorable speeches in American history. The following is the full text of the speech, as transcribed on The Huffington Post.


















I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

August 27, 2013

Literary Pick (***)

The War of the Roses- The Children
-Warren Adler

August 18, 2013

Literary Pick (*)

Ida
-Gertrude Stein

August 15, 2013

Literary Pick (****)

Life, On the Line
-Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas

August 14, 2013

Film Quote

"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."
- Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) in Casablanca

August 8, 2013

Honor Spotlight

Pedro Zamora
Cuban-American AIDS educator
Born: February 29, 1972, Diezmero, Cuba
Died: November 11, 1994, Coconut Grove, Miami, FL






















Pedro Zamora (February 29, 1972 – November 11, 1994) was a young openly-gay HIV-positive AIDS educator when he was cast as a housemates on the groundbreaking MTV reality show Real World San Francisco. For many young Americans, watching Zamora on camera was their first exposure to a young person living with AIDS. His appearance on the popular show has been credited with increasing AIDS awareness and normalizing those with the disease.

About Pedro Zamora:

Pedro Zamora was born in Havan, Cuba on the leap day of a leap year (February 29, 1972). According to a Wikipedia report, a Santeria priestess deemed Zamora a grande cabeza or "wise one" born to save lives. Zamora came to the U.S. as a Cuban immigrant at the age of 8.

Pedro Zamora and HIV:

Zamora found out he was HIV-positive after giving blood during his junior year of high school. He turned to the Miami-based HIV/AIDS resource center Body Positive for help and support before speaking about his own experience living with the virus. Zamora entered the national spotlight as an AIDS advocate after being featured by Eric Morganthaler on a front page article of the Wall Street Journal. Interviews by Geraldo Rivera, Phil Donahue and Oprah Winfrey followed.
On July 12, 1993, he testified before the United States Congress concerning HIV/AIDS awareness and educational programs. Zamora argued, "If you want to reach me as a young gay man -- especially a young gay man of color -- then you need to give me information in a language and vocabulary I can understand and relate to." Much of Zamora's message still rings true today as gay people of color continue to suffer from rising HIV rates.

More on Pedro Zamora and The Real World:

Pedro Zamora was chosen as a castmember of the MTV reality show, The Real World San Francisco in 1994. He took his new role as an opportunity to teach HIV/AIDS awareness. Zamora educated all of America at the same time he eased the anxieties of his Real World housemates. Zamora began dating partner Sean Sasser while on the show. They exchanged vows in the Real World loft. The show aired a week after the cast moved out of the loft.

Pedro's Last Days:

Pedro's health began to deteriorate during the taping of the show. However, things only got worse after they moved he moved out. Zamora’s T-cell count had dropped to an alarming 32 and he suffered from PML and other serious illnesses. Pedro Zamora died at approximately 4:40am EST on November 11, 1994, the day after the final episode of The Real World San Francisco aired.

Pedro Zamora's Legacy:

Zamora was honored by former President Bill Clinton for his HIV/AIDS awareness work. SW 59th Street in Miami, Florida was given the name "Pedro Zamora Way."


Old News

Earlier this morning, ARTINFO reported that famed choreographer Yvonne Rainer sent a letter to Los Angeles MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch denouncing artist Marina Abramovic’s plans for the museum’s annual gala, which involves installing performers under gala tables, turning them into disembodied rotating heads for three-hour-long stretches over a period of two days. The performers would be paid a paltry $150 for their troubles. Read the full text of the letter below.
November 9, 2011
To Jeffrey Deitch:
I am writing to protest the “entertainment” about to be provided by Marina Abramovic at the upcoming donor gala at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It has come to my attention that a number of young people will be ensconced under the diners’ tables on lazy Susans and also be required to display their nude bodies under fake skeletons.
This description is reminiscent of “Salo,” Pasolini’s controversial film of 1975 that dealt with sadism and sexual abuse of a group of adolescents at the hands of a bunch of post-war fascists. Reluctant as I am to dignify Abramovic by mentioning Pasolini in the same breath, the latter at least had a socially credible justification in the cause of anti-fascism. Abramovic and MOCA have no such credibility, only a flimsy personal rationale about eye contact. Subjecting her performers to public humiliation at the hands of a bunch of frolicking donors is yet another example of the Museum’s callousness and greed and Ms Abramovic’s obliviousness to differences in context and to some of the implications of transposing her own powerful performances to the bodies of others. An exhibition is one thing — this is not a critique of Abramovic’s work in general — but titillation for wealthy diners as a means of raising money is another.
Ms Abramovic is so wedded to her original vision that she – and by extension, the Museum director and curators — doesn’t see the egregious associations for the performers, who, though willing, will be exploited nonetheless. Their desperate voluntarism says something about the generally exploitative conditions of the art world such that people are willing to become victims of a celebrity artist in the hopes of somehow breaking into the show biz themselves. And at sub-minimal wages for the performers, the event verges on economic exploitation and criminality.
This grotesque spectacle promises to be truly embarrassing. We the undersigned wish to express our dismay that an institution that we have supported can stoop to such degrading methods of fund raising. Can other institutions be far behind? Must we re-name MOCA “MODFR” or the Museum of Degenerate Fund Raising?
Sincerely,
Yvonne Rainer
 BlouinArtInfo

August 7, 2013

Art of the Day

Earth’s Skin















El Anatsui (Ghanaian, b. 1944)
2007, Aluminum and copper wire, 177 x 394 in. (449.6 x 1000.8 cm). Courtesy of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

NYT

August 5, 2013

Literary Pick (***)

Simple Passion
-Annie Ernaux

August 3, 2013

Literary Pick (****)

Ciao! Miami 
-Fawzy Zablah