Martin Luther King Day-Related Stuff

Okay, it turns out that I was dead wrong with most of my Golden Globes predictions, although Jeff Bridges did win for Crazy Heart, and Meryl Streep won-- for Julie & Julia. (Oh, BTW, I totally forgot about Sandra Bullock being nominated for The Blind Side, which she won for. So, congrats, Sandy!) Of course, that's not the main purpose of today's post. No, readers, today is the very important occasion of Martin Luther King Day, the 25th annual observance of the birthday of the Civil Rights iconoclast. Anyway, I found some great info on the Web about today's national celebrations, including those in King's hometown of Atlanta and the ways in which President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama are honoring the work of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner. To commemorate what would be King's 81st birthday (he was actually born on Jan. 15, 1929), a number of speeches are taking place at his Atlanta church-- Ebenezer Baptist. I read about the keynote speech, delivered by Princeton University scholar Cornel West. The author of 20 books, including Race Matters, West told the audience not "sanitize" King's image and to remember that King was once considered dangerous by the FBI. I totally agree with West. Accordingly, I ask that those of you who read this post mine this blog's archives for my Jan. 19, 2009, post in which I compiled a list of King quotes to coincide with last year's observance and Obama's inauguration that occurred the following day. (Yes, folks, it's been almost a year since that historic day, and what a year it's been!) So, check out these quotes, and let us pay joyous tribute to the life of one of my many personal heroes.