MLK: I Have A Dream Speech, InfoGraphic

President Obama is a great speaker, but who did he learn from? Many people have analysed Dr. Martin Luther King's I have a Dream Speech however, this infoGraphic reveals secrets that few can visualize without such a tool. (Video)

I have often said that Africans utilize English to speak African. There is no place where this is more visible then in the Call and Response sing song cadence of an African American Baptist Minster. The other place you see this is in the Metu Neter of Classical African Civilization, Kemet (Ancient Egypt). The ancient writing, IMHO, is the most complex and visual in recorded history. This ability to connect with man's spirit through metaphor is built into the writing and speaking of the shinny ones (ancestors) This legacy comes down to us in modern speakers who have learned the technology of connecting with the spirit of beings through sound.


Nancy Duarte, of California-based Duarte Design, does a masterful job of revealing some remarkable Cultural Communication Technology utilizing this famous American speech. Duarte, color-coded the bars to highlight different aspects of Cultural Technology (rhetorical devices)

1. Blue = repetition 2. Pink = metaphors 4. Orange = political references 3. Green = familiar literature and songs, from Scripture to “American"/African ideals

Let's Go to the Video Tape "N" Word Alert



I am sure you will agree that this is a most masterful and insightful presentation of the Cultural Technology that most of us African Americans see every Sunday morning that we are in church. From the smallest Black church in the South, to the Biggest in a big city like Chicago or New York. From King Tut to Garvey, King, Malcolm and Obama the cultural technology lives.

The Civil Rights Battle of my generation made this cultural technology visible to the broad American audience for the first time because of TV. Those of us living then remember the connection it made to America's better Angels.  Now let's revisit the King speech with new eyes.




Isn't it interesting the difference the new eyes of Cultural Technology can make in one's understanding of something you have heard many times before.

The next time you listen to your minster, listen with the new eyes in your spirit. President Obama's life has a destiny. He did not choose to understand and designate himself to be African American by accident. He did not go to one of Chicago's great churches and absorb Cultural Technology by accident. The next time you hear our President speak pay close attention. The next time you speak, pay close attention. Pay attention with your spirit.

Amen 

MLK Day of Service: Part of the President's United We Serve initiative. This piece is my contribution.

Obama Exhibits First Sign of Cultural Poisoning

I voted for the President but what he said regarding the disabled community was a non-traditional symptom of Cultural Poisoning that should be looked at closer.

As a matter of Cultural Health we should always endeavor to reduce Cultural Poisoning of all types. Normally I do cultural commentary on Cultural Poisoning as it relates to Black and White ethnic group issues. Cultural Poisoning as it relates to the disability community is a reality that is even less known and understood then Black/White issues.

For the first time, a sitting President appeared on the Jay Leno Show, where President Obama unfortunately referred to bowling and the “Special Olympics”. See the video on YouTube.



First let me say that anyone can, and most of us do, exhibit a symptom of Cultural Poisoning (CP) from time to time. for instance, Dr. Martin Luther King used the “N” Word (Negro) as common parlance. I have watched the President closely and I have not detected any inter-ethnic Cultural Poisoning yet so, why this odd off hand disrespect of the disability community. Was it competitive arrogance?

If you have ever been in a Gym locker room and heard the trash talk, you might suspect that the President probably picked up this CP in such and environment. Whatever the case, the good news is that unlike Bush and the forty thieves, this President immediately acknowledged the mistake and apologized. Now, that is change, and a good example of how to cure a specific symptom of Cultural Poisoning. Amen!

Related articles by Zemanta

• President Barack Obama on Tonight Show Full Interview Video (binside.typepad.com)
• Obama Insults Disabled People (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Obama's Comedy Gutterball (alan.com)
• Bowling For Atonement (thenewnixon.org)

Obama Inaurguration - I Have A Dream II

Image by BL1961 via FlickrMany people watching Barack Obama's inauguration missed the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King's friend Rev. Lowery launched "I Have A Dream II" in the controversial last prayer. It was not an attack on White people let, me explain.

Reverend Joseph Lowery's closing prayer confused some as a result of Cultural Illiteracy and some because of their anti-humanism. If you simply do not know the original "If you're Black Get Back" Poem I can fix that right now.

Let's listen to the honorable Rev. Lowery's I have a Dream II poetry and then lets look at the original "If you're Black Get Back" poetry used to teach African American youth the nature of ethnic relations in the America I grew up in. If you are Culturally Illiterate regarding African American culture then most of what you hear about Black people will only confuse you.

Closing Prayer Gets Some Laughs


Now look at the original "Black Get Back Poem":

"If you're White, you're all right. If you're brown, stick around, but if you're Black, get back."

Now lets look at the Lowery Revised "Black Get Back Poem" (I Have A Dream II)

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when Black will not be asked to get back, when Brown can stick around, when Yellow will be mellow, when the Red man can get ahead, man; and when White will embrace what is right. Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen. And Amen.

Source: Wikipedia I corrected the wiki "give" Back with the speech GET Back. Ethnic capitalization errors have been adjusted for Cultural Health.

As a child I and most African Americans that I know were told the "Get Back Black Poem" by their parents or street parents. Our honorable Elder was on one level correcting the Cultural Poisoning induced into the veins of millions of us Black people.

Republican social conservatives (anti-humanists) have tried to spin this into a "racist" speech. Don't believe the hype. This is what I said to them.

To Reverend Lowery's benediction I say, AMEN! This is what every Culturally Literate African American and Cultural Humanists said. Yes, there was some Cultural Poisoning in the benediction, I would not use the terms red, and yellow to describe my Native American and Asian American brothers and sisters but I understood what was meant in the very familiar peculiar American poetry.

Finally, we should note as a matter of Cultural Literacy the remarkable ethnic specificity of adding the five major ethnic groups in America by description and desired Cultural Health outcome, WoW, Powerful! Of particular note is Lowery's courage in touching the "Indian" third rail of mentioning our Native American citizens. This is why I call it the "I Have A Dream Speech II"

Cultural Literacy Minute: If you are Culturally Illiterate regarding the other ethnic groups in our multi-ethnic Nation, then most things you hear about "race" will only confuse you.

In this new ere of American REsponsibility, it is time to CHANGE, ask questions, improve your Cultural Health.

Related articles by Zemanta

• VIDEO: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have A Dream'
• Commentary: Struggle for MLK's dream isn't over