Untold (King's Movement and how media relates)

When we think of King, what do we think about? Bus boycotts, great speaker, leader of the civil rights movement, but we never stop to think who is telling his story. At a young age I was taught that King was a civil rights activists and a civil rights activist only. What I did not know was that King understood that it was not just a colored person problem. It was bigger than that it was a poor person problem. So lets think when King begun to speak out against the Vietnam War. All of a sudden, the media turned on him. They called him un-American said he had no right to speak out against the war and that he had better stick to civil rights. This truth however is never told to us. When they tell King's story they tell about his civil rights work followed by his assassination. Now let us think, why would they limit the history of this great man? Constantly showing the, "I have a dream" speech. They limited the part he told of how to reach that freedom bell. They didn't tell us how he fought for wages for all people. Why, because in 2009 we are still fighting for those wages, since we were never told of King's work.


I was told that a movement begins with the telling of an untold story. Now let us stop and think how many stories go untold. We were untold of the schools closing in Chicago that displaced thousands thanks to their Renaissance 2010 plan. We were untold of how the coal mining in West Virginia lead to that state and its capital becoming the 2nd poorest in the nation, and how Larry- an owner of a mountain who refuses to sell it- has life threats against him and his dog on a daily basis. We are untold of how media today is still used as a form of control. We are untold of the current wars that America is involved in or how the biggest war is the WAR FOR OUR MIND. We are untold of these thing and the victories we win, such as STUDENTS across the country fighting for Education Reform that doesn't displace the students or their families. We are untold of the work the Philadelphia Student Union does to ensure education is being used for liberation and not domestication. We are untold of the taxi workers fighting for wages or immigrants fighting for justice or how all their struggles are connected.


Well told is the last day. We as organizers must began to take control of the media and use it to tell these stories. It is up to us to educate our own on how to effectively get our stories heard, because once it is told connections can be made. Once connections are made then we will finally be able to re-light the flame that once drove millions of people regardless of there race to march upon their oppressor; for that in which they are entitled to: A RIGHT TO LIVE.

(From the Philly Student Union Blog)

From the Poor People's Campaign - PBS