1.16.2004

Back of the bus: Bush visits MLK grave amid protests
When African Americans and peace activists protested Bush's visit to the grave of Martin Luther King yesterday, law enforcement responded with an unfortunate symbol: they moved buses to separate the president from the crowds. Perhaps not the best way to woo the black vote. "We question the integrity of the timing of [Bush's visit] because last year at this time he took a stand against affirmative action, the Michigan case, which is part of Dr. King's legacy," said Sheriee Bowman, from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

But race wasn't all that was on people's minds. "For President Bush to come to Martin Luther King Jr.'s crypt is the height of hypocrisy," said Reverend Tim McDonald of Concerned Black Clergy. "President Bush's policies have, with deliberate intent, reversed decades of progress and increased racial inequality, job loss, poverty rates and global insecurity." Holding "Peace not war" signs, others protested the continued entanglement in Iraq, citing the work King did for nonviolence in the last years of his life.

Also: New from Alternet, re-mixing King for the hip-hop generation.

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