I have a $10 Dream today...

Did you catch the oh, so subtle language used in yesterday's Washington Post "pity party for the poor deprived school children" crapfest about Martin Luther King's speech?

King's Fiery Speech Rarely Heard
Tapes Are Copyrighted; Schools Often Use Text

By Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 15, 2006

It is the time of year when students are taught about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, so passionately delivered that his call for freedom changed U.S. history. Once heard, it is impossible to forget.

But many students won't get to hear it -- and most who do will hear only snippets, educators and historians said.

Valerie Strauss explains that the King family owns the rights to Dr. King's speeches, and she even manages to link Dr. King and Richard Nixon in the same paragraph!

The King family is not alone in its decision to control the use of his work. Former president Richard M. Nixon sold his papers to the U.S. government for $18 million.

Strauss continues by pointing out that President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address is in the public domain.

So what? How many people filmed, recorded, and photographed JFK's speeches?

And how many people filmed, recorded and photographed MLK's "I have a dream" speech? Not very many, obviously.

Way down in paragraph 11, however, Strauss admits that the cost of the "I have a dream" video is only $10. She doesn't add that the King family isn't getting rich off of the royalties. Or that they don't live like Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell. Or that they work tirelessly to keep Dr. King's dream alive. Does she?

How much Pure D crap is purchased by school libraries every year? And how much of that crap costs only $10? Answers: tons; and hardly any. Bought any books lately?

Interesting that Valerie Strauss chooses to focus on the King family's ownership of their birthright and not on the piss poor decisions of school administrators, librarians, and classroom teachers to buy one more crappy Disney book...

And not buy the video of one of our country's most important speeches and treat it like gold.

To her credit, Strauss does note one classroom teacher who purchased the $10 King speech video for her classes. (Typical. The teacher sees the value and buys it for her class.)

$10.

I'm going to call my neighborhood school tomorrow and ask if they have a video of Dr. King's speech in their library. If not, I'm going to buy them 2 or 3. How about you?


File this under: Does your local school have one or more copies of Dr. King's speech? If not, why not?