Tom Brokaw's stirring two-hour History channel tribute to Martin Luther King was one of the best docs
I have seen in a long time. Great talking heads from the original sources--Andrew Young, John Lewis. The best part was so much 1960s video footage from television broadcasts.
Many consider Dr. King the greatest figure ever produced by our country. This doc reaffirmed that belief by bringing to light the nature of Dr. King's own battles--including with depression brought on by the constant threat of death. And then I learned once again of the perfidy and evil of J. Edgar Hoover--why the fuck is his name on any building in this country??? Hoover took the illegal tapes from the bugging of Dr. King's hotel room liasons and sent them to Mrs. King sending her to the depths of incredible despair.
Finally, John Legend's AMAZING performance of U2's Pride (In The Name of Love) is as astonishing as the original. Check out the way John sings "priiiiiiiide" in the final verse which directly references MLK. Interesting too that in the original Bono sings of shots ringing out in the "early morn" this historic error is corrected by Legend who sings "late afternoon."
Bravo to Legend, and to Bono who also appears in the doc along with many others including the old Bill Clinton.
In many ways this country didn't really deserve a man of such courage, strength and integrity with our
despicable history with respect to black people. But he stepped forth. We were very lucky.
*One final sidenote, earlier that same day on MTP Michael Eric Dyson made a wonderful point about Senator Obama. He said that Obama is MLK up until 1965. The MLK from 1966-1968 is represented today by Rev. Wright. That's a fascinating comparison.