Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
View allAll Photos Tagged CivilRights
Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
(Click on image to view large)
Thank you for looking and please do NOT use my images without my written permission.
Scott Betz 2024 - © All Rights Reserved
These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Now they reside on an external harddrive. I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... They are happily appreciated!
Enjoy!
Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly.
These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Now they reside on an external harddrive. I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... They are happily appreciated!
Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly.
These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Now they reside on an external harddrive. I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... Thanks in advance!
Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly.
These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Now they reside on an external harddrive. I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... They are happily appreciated!
I saw that they are using this at the protests in LA, and wanted to make an image for myself... I am done laying down and taking it. Give me my rights!!
If you have a problem with gay people, then I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOU!
And don't forget, it isn't just Prop 8; there were similar propositions passed in other (Arizona and Florida) states, including a provision that outlaws gay people from adopting children in Arkansas. This outcry of bigotry is just sickening, and must be stopped.
A man at the memorial to Alex Pretti on the 2600 block of Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis, wearing a hoodie whose slogan echoes Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, who used the unexpurgated version in January 2026, telling ICE to get out of the city after one of its agents shot dead Renée Good on 7 January.
Seventeen days later, a Border Patrol agent shot dead Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, a few yards from where this picture was taken, while he was filming federal agents during the surge in immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities.
40 years ago, NYC cops were paid to beat up, harass, and arrest gay people. Today there are rainbows on the cop cars.
900 metres from the René Good memorial; 1.6 km (exactly a mile) from George Floyd Square. A sign reading “Neighbors say ICE out!” hung in the screen door of a house on East 35th Street in south Minneapolis, with lilac in bloom beside the porch.
By the spring of 2026, signs like this filled windows across the south of the city, put up in response to Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale deployment of federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities that began in late 2025. The operation brought detentions to residential streets like this one, and two killings by federal agents in January.
The enclosed porch of a house on Portland Avenue in south Minneapolis, with posters in the windows calling for ICE to leave the city, a “This is private property” notice on the door, and a broom and watering can on the step. This is one block away from the Renée Good memorial site and perhaps 1 km from George Floyd Square.
The poster on the right, reading “Killer ICE off our streets”, was issued by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. It refers to the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in January 2026, during Operation Metro Surge, the deployment of federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities that began in late 2025.
450 metres from the René Good memorial; 1.2 km from George Floyd Square. A notice in the window of a corner shop on East 35th Street in south Minneapolis, telling ICE agents they do not have consent to enter without a valid judicial warrant, beside a “Hablamos español” sticker and the reflection of the street outside.
Notices like this, headed “Juntos somos más fuertes” (together we are stronger), appeared in shop windows across the city during Operation Metro Surge, the deployment of federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities that began in late 2025. They rest on a distinction often cited by immigrant-rights groups: a warrant signed by a judge allows entry to private premises, while an administrative warrant issued by the immigration authorities does not, without the occupier’s consent.
The steel raised-fist sculpture by Jordan Powell-Karis at the centre of George Floyd Square in south Minneapolis, ringed by a planted traffic circle, with a soul food restaurant and murals reading “Abolish police” and “Heal, invest, uplift our community” behind.
The sculpture stands at the heart of the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, where Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on 25 May 2020. Under the city’s reconstruction plan, which began work in June 2026, the fist is to be temporarily moved during construction and then returned to a rebuilt roundabout.
When I heard Mareeyo McGhee say he had been "dreaming and praying" that Joe Biden would win the 2020 Presidential Race, my mind raced to memories of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, and to John Lewis crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on Bloody Sunday. As I stood there I thought that surely Martin Luther King and John Lewis were looking down on Mareeyo and saying, "keep dreaming, keep praying, keep on, little fella". Because that's exactly what I was thinking.
Indianapolis
2020
© James Rice, All Rights Reserved
"The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have. We must use it."
— Congressman John R. Lewis (1940-2020).
Banner seen on the Stone Mountain Trail, in...
DeKalb County (Smoke Rise), Georgia, USA.
3 October 2020.
***************
▶ Early voting in Georgia begins 12 October and continues through 30 October.
▶ Dates are different state-to-state. So, for more information:
☞ U.S. government website: www.vote.org
☞ Non-profit, nonpartisan organization: turbovote.org (Democracy Works)
☞ State of Georgia government website: sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections
☞ Also in Georgia: fairfight.com.
But, wherever you are: VOTE!
***************
▶ Photo by Yours For Good Fermentables.com.
▶ For a larger image, type 'L' (without the quotation marks).
— Follow on Twitter: @Cizauskas.
— Follow on Facebook: YoursForGoodFermentables.
— Follow on Instagram: @tcizauskas.
▶ Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
▶ Commercial use requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.
Mural of civil rights icon Congressman John R. Lewis (1940-2020)
— Artist: Sean Schwab
Atlanta (Sweet Auburn), Georgia, USA.
19 July 2020.
***************
▶ Mural painted 2012.
▶ Closeup of mural: here.
▶ Closeup of quotation: here.
***************
▶ Congressman Lewis died on 17 July 2020, at age 80. In the succeeding days, many mourners paid their respects at the base of the 5-story mural, leaving flowers and other remembrances.
▶ "I appeal to all of you to get into this great revolution that is sweeping this nation. Get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village, and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the revolution of 1776 is complete."
— John Lewis
28 August 1963.
***************
▶ Photographer's note:
In (unnecessary) haste, I set ISO to an unnecessarily high level. Despite that, the image still 'works.'
***************
▶ Photo by Yours For Good Fermentables.com.
▶ For a larger image, type 'L' (without the quotation marks).
— Follow on Twitter: @Cizauskas.
— Follow on Facebook: YoursForGoodFermentables.
— Follow on Instagram: @tcizauskas.
▶ Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
— Lens: Olympus M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R.
— Panoramic stitch (3).
— Edit: Photoshop Elements 15.
▶ Commercial use requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.
Give your heart to justice, give your love George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, Cop Lives Matter, Forgiveness matters Orlando Fl 6/8/20
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcome X
Dr. King's philosophy was one of non-violence, and this article looks at the alternative views of Malcolm X which are not aired quite so frequently.
Dr. King is probably remembered as the most famous African-American leader in US history. At the time of his assassination in 1968 he was at the forefront of the civil rights movement in the US. He left behind him a legacy of committed, non-violent resistance to an unjust system. But perhaps his greatest legacy is his aspiration for a future in which racial division would be a thing of the past: his famous dream.
But there were limits to the effectiveness of King’s philosophy. His approach was essentially what theorist Robert Cox would call a ‘problem solving’ approach - in other words, King seemed to be trying to work for change within an existing system for most of his life. Another 1960s black leader whose ideas presented more of a challenge to the existing structures of US society:
Malcolm X. He was similarly assassinated three years before Martin Luther King. Although his approach to the problem of institutional racism in America was an essential component of the civil rights struggle, we hear much less about his ideas.
Whenever Malcom X is brought up it is first necessary to dispense with the inevitable accusations: yes, Malcom X was - for a time - a so-called ‘racist in reverse’. He once believed in an exclusionary form of Islam, believing that the white man was the devil. This did not refer to some white people, or to most white people, but to ALL white people.
But Malcolm X changed his views on that score. Indeed, his entire life was marked by his willingness to alter his views. He made many remarkable changes throughout his life, moving from a life of armed robbery, gambling, and dealing in cocaine and marijuana to an ascetic life as a devout Muslim. And by the time of his return from visiting Mecca in 1964, he had changed his views on white people. His travels through the Middle East and Africa had led him to learn the error of his racist views of whites. In a dramatic turnaround, he wrote an open letter for distribution to the press in which he rejected his earlier racism.
He still believed in his struggle to fight for the emancipation of his race, but no longer believed that all white people were his enemies.
Of course, the reality of 1960s North America was that many whites were the enemies of black people. And both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were struggling to change the situation, so that African-Americans would not continue to be the victims of America.
Their methods and views were very different. Dr. King was a Christian minister, whereas Malcolm X not only became a Muslim in a jailhouse conversion, but had a history of hostility towards Christianity. One of the most powerful images in Spike Lee’s biopic of Malcolm X is of Denzel Washington, as Malcolm, arguing in jail about the colour of Jesus’ skin. He was arguing that Jesus was born in a part of the world where the indigenous population had historically been ‘people of colour’.
He later moderated his criticism of Christianity, and was willing to work alongside black Christian leaders, but - similar to a Marxist view of religion - he always felt that black people in America had been kept passive by Christianity since the time of slavery. They would tolerate hell in the present because of the promise of heaven in the hereafter.
One of the most interesting differences between the philosophies of the two men, and one which is pertinent today given the imminent 1916 celebrations, is their attitude to violence. Martin Luther King espoused a ‘turn the other cheek’ philosophy, whereas Malcolm X had a philosophy of “vigorous action in self defence”. These two philosophies were juxtaposed in another Spike Lee film, ‘Do the Right Thing‘, which finishes with a quote from each man.
However, Malcolm X did not believe in violence in all crcumstances, and generally spoke about violence as a defensive mechanism rather than as aggression. He suggested that black people should form rifle clubs. It should be remembered that gun ownership was entirely legal, and that this was in a context where the Ku Klux Klan were very active, and civil rights legislation had yet to be enacted.
On one occasion, he advocated self defence after seeing television footage from Alabama of Martin Luther King being knocked down by a racist. He sent a message to Lincoln Rockwell, one of the white supremacist agitators in Alabama and the leader of the American Nazi Party, warning him that if these racist attacks continued they would be met with “maximum physical retaliation”. His philosophy was not motivated by hate, but by ‘intelligence’. He believed that self-defence was morally justified, and also cited hypocrisy of the US drafting black men to be violent in its army, but then condemning them for being ready to defend themselves in a just cause at home:
"They're violent in Korea, they're violent in Germany, they're violent in the south Pacific, they're violent in Cuba, they're violent wherever they go. But when it comes time for you and me to protect ourselves against lynchings, they tell us to be nonviolent" (Detroit, Feb 14th 1965 - 8 days before his death).
It is important to remember, as noted in Malcolm’s eulogy by actor Ossie Davis, that Malcolm X was never personally associated with any violence himself. His view was that a black population that was willing to defend itself would make for a more peaceful society, as they would be less likely to be the victims of attack. It was also clear that the government was failing to protect the black community, and Malcolm X believed that a proactive African-American policy of self defence would force the government to step in and do its job.
Malcolm X saw the futility of trying to change the system from within, and in appealling to the government for change. He believed in taking action to improve circumstances of discrimination or oppression. He spoke about a 'do it yourself philosophy, a do it right now philosophy, an it's already too late philosophy'. He knew that African-American people could not achieve fairness in the system of the time, and this was the reason for his militancy and urgency. But he was also conscious that his militancy would make the more moderate path of Martin Luther King appear more acceptable in comparison. At a speech in Jan/Feb 1965 in Selma, Alabama, where King was in jail, Malcolm X spoke at a rally and sat beside King's wife on the podium. Dr. King's wife told ‘Jet’ magazine that Malcolm X told her that he "wanted to present an alternative; that it mght be easier for whites to accept Martin's proposals after hearing him (Malcolm X)... He seemed rather anxious to let Martin know that he was ...trying to make it easier [for him]" (cited in Alex Haley's introduction to The Autobiography of Malcolm X). So in his militancy, Malcolm X was also consciously attempting to open up a space for more moderate voices to be heard.
Malcolm X's approach was an essential component of the civil rights struggle, and I believe that his commitment, his militancy, and his unwillingness to compromise or be co-opted mean that his ideas have far more emancipatory potential than those of Martin Luther King.
Malcolm X died while his ideas were still developing - who knows what solutions he would have come up with if he had been allowed to live?
This portion of the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial includes a quote from Justice Thurgood Marshall. It stands on the opposite side of the sculpture in my previous posting. The memorial, designed by sculptor Stanley Bleifeld, stands on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. Information from the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial website.
Select "All Sizes" to read an article or to see the image clearly.
I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!
Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly.
These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Now they reside on an external harddrive. I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... They are happily appreciated!
A figure woven from palm leaves, with arms of white cloth and hung with rosaries, rises over the flowers at the memorial to Renée Good on Portland Avenue in south Minneapolis. Beside it are a sign quoting her last words, “I’m not mad at you, dude”, and another reading “Justice for Renee: the antidote to despair is action.”
Good, a 37-year-old US citizen, was shot dead in her car here by an ICE agent on 7 January 2026, during the surge in immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities; the agent’s own phone recorded her final words. The woven palm and rosaries draw on Mexican Catholic folk devotion, a sign of how the Latino residents of the surrounding streets made the memorial their own.
Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly.
These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Now they reside on an external harddrive. I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... Thanks in advance!
Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly.
I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!
These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Now they reside on an external harddrive. I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... They are happily appreciated!
Enjoy!
Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly.
These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Now they reside on an external harddrive. I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... Thanks in advance!
Select "All Sizes" to read an article or to see the image clearly.
I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!
Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly.
I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!
The former Speedway petrol station at George Floyd Square in south Minneapolis, renamed “People’s Way” by the protesters who occupied it after Floyd’s murder in 2020. The canopy now reads “Where there’s people there’s power”, and the walls of the shop are covered with portraits.
The station became a gathering place and community hub during the years the square was held by protesters. Reconstruction of the surrounding streets began in June 2026, six weeks after this photograph.
The steel raised fist at the centre of George Floyd Square in south Minneapolis, with the former Speedway petrol station behind, renamed “People’s Way” and lettered “Where there’s people there’s power”, and a billboard advertising air-conditioning servicing above the corner.
The intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, where Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on 25 May 2020, was held by protesters for years afterwards. Reconstruction began in June 2026, six weeks after this photograph, and the square is expected to stay closed for the work until the end of 2027.
Select "All Sizes" to read an article or to see the image clearly.
I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!
Select "All Sizes" to read an article or to see the image clearly.
I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!
Select "All Sizes" to read an article or to see the image clearly.
I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!
Select "All Sizes" to read an article or to see the image clearly.
I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!
Select "All Sizes" to read an article or to see the image clearly.
I thought others might appreciate these tidbits of forgotten history of People of Color.
Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts or impressions... I look forward to reading them!
When the convicted felon tRump disregards the rule of law, violates the Constitution, and threatens the livelihoods and liberty of Americans, who are you going to call? The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wouldn't be a bad choice.
City of Decatur (Decatur Square), Georgia, USA.
4 May 2025.
***************
▶ "The Decatur Arts Festival brings the community together through a multi-day offering of live music, dance, comedy, theatrical performances, children's book festival, exhibitions, and an expansive and diverse artists’ market." More photos: here.
▶ "The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases where it considers civil liberties at risk. [...] The ACLU's 2024 annual report states that it engages in legal advocacy in support of civil rights, including abortion rights, LGBTQ equality, immigrants' rights, criminal law reform, free speech, and voting rights."
***************
▶ Photo by: YFGF.
▶ For a larger image, type 'L' (without the quotation marks).
— Follow on Instagram: @tcizauskas.
— Follow on Threads: @tcizauskas.
— Follow on Bluesky: @tcizauskas.
▶ Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
— Lens: Olympus M.40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R.
— Edit: Photoshop Elements 15, Nik Collection (2016).
▶ Commercial use requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.
The National Civil Rights Museum is a complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis, Tennessee; its exhibits trace the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. The museum is built around the former Lorraine Motel, where Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Two other buildings and their adjacent property, also connected with the King assassination, have been acquired as part of the museum complex.