借钱读书,缺钱吃饭

Tweets  12/1/2016

借钱读书,缺钱吃饭

小时候, 我有个堂姐[有钱买糖果吃, 没有钱买铅笔] 是我们大家之间的一个笑话.   现在大学生 很多都是离乡背井/河海, [借钱去读书], 还要应付高昂住宿水电费.  有钱付住宿水电后, 缺钱应付饮食, 嗯……, 有大学生有吃没吃过日子.  我本人认为没什么奇怪.  除非,他她阿爸/阿妈够有钱 给他她们.  不然, 没有钱吃饭, 有什么奇怪. 

调查一/几下, 时下, 有多少大专院校的学生, 三餐都温饱.   政管商的掠夺和剥削后,  学费大大高涨, 一面读书, 一面就要背负重重的读书债, 还要负担着不便宜的住宿水电费.   这不是叫[大学生们太沉重]吗? 

当年,我离乡背河海, 飘洋过海去台湾升学, 如果不是住宿水电全免,还有给RM300津贴, 嘿嘿嘿……..这是肯定是有吃没吃过日子, 不说三餐, 两餐能吃饱, 就可以偷偷笑了.   所以, 我完全了解穷人的困境.   EPF不是有做过调查，有凭有据，这国家大概70%多的人，每月收入是少过RM3000。 所以，敲敲自己的脑袋想想。

大学生们去的大专院校是否都是在自己住宿的附近，走路10-15分钟就可以到达。 所以没有交通的问题。  请调查看看。 我当年，出入交通100% 方便。那是80s年代的事。这一点国民党政府做的100%好。当时 将经国领导的政府非常专制霸权，很糟糕，可是，他在交通方面的建树是[一等一]。 所以，当年，我在台北，出入非常方便。如果，没有记错，我在台湾6年多，我从来都没有坐过私人车的。

不要说大学生，多少%小学生饮食品质/营养是足够的。GST之后，至少80% 的家庭营养的饮食是否变成更大的挑战。 有营养的温饱和没营养的温饱是两回事哦，要搞清楚。  贪官政客们会了解什么叫[营养不良]吗？ 营养不良会引发很多疾病。 很多穷人是靠次等的饮食去取代身体所需要的营养，结果？

这个国家会搞成这样子，好好检讨一下/几下是否垄断，掠夺和剥削后的结果。 贫富已经变成两极化，是谁搞的？

有政客领袖总是鼓励别人生多多，希望各自的族群的人数多在选举时取胜。这种脑筋思维的领袖还是在隙缝中看民主，民权，民享和民生 。 生了那么多人，如果求生计那么难，这种生存，意义何在？ 大家不觉得是时候限定生几个？  生那么多，无法生养？  不是很痛苦的事吗？ 能够生养，工作机会欠缺。没有经济能力能够生存得好好的吗？  工作机会有多少，这地球还有多少资源应付不断膨胀的人口？

 

去除从种族角度看待一切

去除从种族角度看待一切

这是要多方面的努力尤其是政客们.  他们真的要好好管理自己的思维和嘴巴.  还有很种族化的政策.  种族化的问题在这联邦组织中,尤其是西马各州真的是中毒过深.   要解毒,真 的要先从那一群政客下手.   不然, 真的别怪人民[马上/下]联想 政客们的恶毒思维和行为.    这是华人的共识和理解.  要解毒, 真的, 真的, 真的…..要下几番功夫证明,证明, 证明,再证明…….. 这些官爷们真的真心诚意, 是有好好做事.

人民这一边, 就是对任何不对, 不好的, 不满的, 不认为的, 不………的, 都要大胆的, 敢敢的, 表达自己.   采取适当的行动争取自己的权益.  像牙齿痛就要去找合格的牙医帮忙.   不然, 牙医永远不可能自动找上门来 帮忙你医牙痛的.   道理就是这么简单.

Micro hydro system lights up Rumah Unyat in many ways

December 28, 2015, Monday Conny Banji, reporters@theborneopost.com

A child sleeps comfortably in his cradle with a table fan to cool the air.

KAPIT: Another 15 minutes left to 6pm. Juna Isau, 50, put on his shirt, grabbed hold of his parang and tied the nylon strap on its wooden sheath to his waist.

At the door, he put on his rubber shoes.
He then walked towards another end of his longhouse, knowing that he should reach his destination in 15 minutes.

It has become daily routine for the men of Rumah Unyat Chupong to check the generator house and the dam of a mini micro hydro system used by their longhouse at a specific time of the day.

The mini dam used by Rumah Unyat to tap hydro power.

The project was commissioned in the middle of this month, barely two months after work started.

The micro hydro system was developed for iM Sarawak under the 1Malaysia Sarawak Advisory Council (1MSAC).

It serves to add value to 1MSAC projects by providing a holistic approach in addressing the overall needs of the various native groups in the state. The main objective is to help improve their standard of living in the long term.

Using ‘run-of-river’ system, the system uses flowing water to power the generator to produce electricity.

This means it has relatively little impact on the surrounding ecology, as water would be diverted back into the river.

The micro hydro system is able to generate eight kilowatt of power round-the-clock for the 150 residents of the 27-door longhouse.

It is expected to last for at least 15 years.

The pipe that channels water from the dam to the generator house.

It all started in July last year when 1MSAC chairman Datuk Joseph Salang visited the 51-year-old Rumah Unyat, longhouse of the late Temenggong Tun Jugah Barieng. Salang also visited the proposed mini dam site at Sungai Sekusing, a tributary of Sungai Merirai—about 15 minutes walking distance from the longhouse.

Shortly after that visit, news filtered in that the project would be implemented for their longhouse.

The project at Rumah Unyat is the eighth implemented and commissioned by iM Sarawak in the state.

Juna said the project, done using ‘gotong royong’ style, involved the longhouse residents. Work started last October.

“We cut down crops and fruit trees to connect electric the cables from the generator station to the longhouse.

“There was no compensation, but that is just a small sacrifice. I would advise those who want this project implemented for their longhouse to do the same.

“I believe the benefits of the project are worth more than that (sacrifice),” he said.

Previously, his people relied heavily on diesel generators for electricity, and it cost them a minimum of RM200 per family per month.

Back then, lights were switched on from 6pm to 10pm only.

The tower where Tun Jugah used to sleep. The tower is fronting Sungai Merirai.

On festive occasions, like Gawai Dayak, he said the generator sets would run until midnight or till early hours the following morning.

“With the micro hydro in place, we do not have to spend money for diesel anymore.

“The system not only eases our financial burden but gives us 24-hour free power.”

Bayan Genta, Jacklin Melilid, Edwin Betong and Melina Banyah were among those who helped Rumah Unyat residents in the project.

The four travelled from their longhouses—Rumah Lugum Jenging at Nanga Taba and Rumah Michael Jantan at Nanga Bekatan in Ulu Kanowit, Julau—to Sungai Merirai in Kapit.

The journey from Nanga Bekatan in Julau to Nanga Merirai in Kapit is 10 hours long, using river and land transports.

This micro hydro system, which has been implemented in Rumah Lugum and Rumah Michael, much earlier, has transformed the lives of the folk there. Hence, the four were eager to help.

With experience gained from building the system for their longhouses, Bayan, Jacklin, Edwin and Melina responded to the call to help Rumah Unyat residents.

“We want to see another longhouse benefit from this project. So, we came in November this year to share what we know and to build the system together with the longhouse residents,” Edwin said.

He advised Rumah Unyat folk to set up a special fund for the maintenance of the system, like what Rumah Lugum and Rumah Michael have done.

He said Rumah Lugum and Rumah Michael collected RM5 per door every month for maintenance.

Maintenance involves greasing the bearings occasionally and cleaning the dam once every three months.

Tun Jugah’s granddaughter Jini Nabau, 56, said the provision of 24-hour electricity is making the lives of her people much easier.

She said this was because they were able to use electrical appliances such as washing machines, televisions, refrigerators, fans and lamps at any time.

“This means we no longer need to do house chores and other activities in the dark, and the students can spend more time studying at night.

“Previously, there are limitations to that,” she said.

Fellow longhouse resident Rantai Dinggun, in her 50s, said now she could start buying electrical appliances.

Rantai, who helped implement the micro hydro system, said currently she did not have a refrigerator or television.

“I will ask my children to buy them,” she said.

Juna finally arrived at the generator house. He checked the generator and noticed the bearings need to be greased.

From the house, he moved towards the mini dam—about another 10 minutes walking distance, looked around to check if there are fallen tree branches that could block the river.

It had rained heavily last night, and it seemed it would rain again that night.

That is a good thing for the micro hydro system.
Satisfied that all was well with the system, he headed back home.

My comments:

Only small, small dams benefit the poor rural folk.  When can they have the access to the electricity from the the big, big Bakun hydroelectric dam (about the size of Singapore as boasted by a political thug)?    Do these poor rural folk have any value more than the votes to win from them by hook or crook?  

Now with the threat from DAP's Impian Sarawak, iM has come into being to tackle this long term problem of 'power'.  

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/12/28/micro-hydro-system-lights-up-rumah-unyat-in-many-ways/#ixzz3vnSt4qFh

PKR chides Ahmad Maslan for his ‘two jobs’ advice in tackling rising cost of living

December 29, 2015, Tuesday

Voon Shiak Ni

KUCHING: Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan’s call for the people to hold two jobs if they wish to cushion the rising costs of living is not only insensitive, but also lacks passion and humanity, said PKR women national vice chief Voon Shiak Ni.

Voon, who is PKR Stampin branch vice chairperson, said given the slow economy that the country is currently facing, it is not easy even to get a monthly paid job, let alone get two jobs.

She said Malaysians would be most grateful if Ahmad could be more constructive by bringing the people’s problems to the federal government and work out better approaches and solutions to help the people cope with the rise in cost of living.

“No, I personally do not agree that one should do two jobs to cope with the rise in cost of living and we are not robots. It is also insensitive and uncalled for, for a minister to call on his

people to hold two jobs,” she told The Borneo Post when contacted yesterday.

Voon, who is PKR’s potential candidate for Batu Kitang, said Ahmad’s suggestion had invited outcry from the public, who had been made to tighten their purse strings due to the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), which had led to the escalation in the prices of goods .
“GST is ‘multi-stage’ tax that is collected at every stage of the production and distribution chain and across the board and adversely affected the lower income groups.

“As a result of this, prices of daily commodity such as eggs have now cost two times more than it was five years ago.”

She said PKR had suggested for GST to be implemented at a lower rate such as three per cent, as what was done in neighbouring Singapore and only increased to four per cent after nine years after implementation.

Additionally, Voon said Singapore’s government had taken measures to cushion the impact of GST for the lower income group to cope with the rising cost of living, including increasing grants for lower-income households and increased subsidies for some public services such as health and education.

She said another important point that the federal government could consider for Sarawak to cushion the rising cost of living was to axe the cabotage policy that had resulted in addition of costs of the goods imported to Sarawak from the peninsula.

Meanwhile, Ahmad took to the Twitter yesterday in defence of his statement that Malaysians should hold two jobs if they wish to tackle the rising cost of living by saying that he has three jobs himself.

He even said other Malaysians had also long held more than one job for an honest living and used the hastag ‘#2Kerja’ to denote two jobs.

Ahmad tweeted in Bahasa Malaysia which translated into: “I have three jobs: Member of Parliament, deputy minister, Umno information chief. Many in Malaysia are already holding two jobs #2Kerja. Work hard for halal income,” he posted using his Twitter handle @ahmadmaslan.

In the following tweet, he gave examples of people doing two jobs, such as farmers or village heads by day, who are grocery shop managers by night, rubber tappers doubling as farm workers in the evening and a mosque imam, who is also working in the oil palm plantation business.

Ahmad went on to say there were rules to be followed for holding two jobs that should be adhered to. However, there was no problem for those working on their own.

In another tweet, Ahmad said even opposition leaders Lim Guan Eng and Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail wore three hats. He asked why his suggestion to hold a job with an added online business ended up inciting anger and much criticism.

Lim is Penang Chief Minister, Air Puteh assemblyman and Bagan MP, while PKR president Dr Wan Azizah is the opposition chief, state assemblywoman for Kajang in Selangor, as well as Permatang Pauh MP.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/12/29/pkr-chides-ahmad-maslan-for-his-two-jobs-advice-in-tackling-rising-cost-of-living/#ixzz3vnH0OCmu

My comments:
Holding three posts like what Ahmad Maslan bluffed requires little physical effort.  Besides,  these are highly-paid posts to enjoy.  This kind of posts like what Ahmad Maslan is holding now, I believe 90% can hold 10 posts without much problem.  If I am not mistaken, some political thugs hold many, many, many posts as all these posts not only need little physical or mental effort but also enjoy good pay.  

It is very lucky of Ahmad Maslan for holding these coveted posts and boasts about his ability.   I wonder how much time and physical as well as mental energy he devotes to each post a day to boast about.  However, if you have to work eight hours for a job during the day, how much energy and time left for you to do another job. 

Saying that a person can do 2-3 jobs to deal with the rising cost of living is mindless or without any mental effort to think ways and possibilities to alleviate the heavy burden of people.  

Many UMNO political thugs just have all the luck to hold 3 - 10 or more posts with little time and physical effort to put forth but with the return in many folds.  Are these thugs not paid well and even paid in their sleep? 

Martin Luther King Jr. Biography

Civil Rights Activist, Minister (1929–1968)

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.

Synopsis

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. King, both a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist, had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s. Among many efforts, King headed the SCLC. Through his activism, he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the South and other areas of the nation, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among several other honors. King was assassinated in April 1968, and continues to be remembered as one of the most lauded African-American leaders in history, often referenced by his 1963 speech, "I Have a Dream."

 

Early Years

Born as Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was the middle child of Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. The King and Williams families were rooted in rural Georgia. Martin Jr.'s grandfather, A.D. Williams, was a rural minister for years and then moved to Atlanta in 1893. He took over the small, struggling Ebenezer Baptist church with around 13 members and made it into a forceful congregation. He married Jennie Celeste Parks and they had one child that survived, Alberta. Michael King Sr. came from a sharecropper family in a poor farming community. He married Alberta in 1926 after an eight-year courtship. The newlyweds moved to A.D. Williams home in Atlanta.

Michael King Sr. stepped in as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law in 1931. He too became a successful minister, and adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr. in honor of the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther. In due time, Michael Jr. would follow his father's lead and adopt the name himself.
Young Martin had an older sister, Willie Christine, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. The King children grew up in a secure and loving environment. Martin Sr. was more the disciplinarian, while his wife's gentleness easily balanced out the father's more strict hand. Though they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr.’s parents couldn’t shield him completely from racism. Martin Luther King Sr. fought against racial prejudice, not just because his race suffered, but because he considered racism and segregation to be an affront to God's will. He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children which left a lasting impression on Martin Jr.

Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King Jr. entered public school at age 5. In May, 1936 he was baptized, but the event made little impression on him. In May, 1941, Martin was 12 years old when is grandmother, Jennie, died of a heart attack. The event was traumatic for Martin, more so because he was out watching a parade against his parents' wishes when she died. Distraught at the news, young Martin jumped from a second story window at the family home, allegedly attempting suicide.

King attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student. He skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades, and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 15, in 1944. He was a popular student, especially with his female classmates, but an unmotivated student who floated though his first two years. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, young Martin questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship. This discomfort continued through much of his adolescence, initially leading him to decide against entering the ministry, much to his father's dismay. But in his junior year, Martin took a Bible class, renewed his faith and began to envision a career in the ministry. In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision.

Education and Spiritual Growth

In 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and attended the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He thrived in all his studies, and was valedictorian of his class in 1951, and elected student body president. He also earned a fellowship for graduate study. But Martin also rebelled against his father’s more conservative influence by drinking beer and playing pool while at college. He became involved with a white woman and went through a difficult time before he could break off the affair.
During his last year in seminary, Martin Luther King Jr. came under the guidance of Morehouse College President Benjamin E. Mays who influenced King’s spiritual development. Mays was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change. After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study, including Yale and Edinburgh in Scotland, King enrolled in Boston University.

During the work on this doctorate, Martin Luther King Jr. met Coretta Scott, an aspiring singer and musician, at the New England Conservatory school in Boston. They were married in June 1953 and had four children, Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott and Bernice. In 1954, while still working on his dissertation, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. He completed his Ph.D. and was award his degree in 1955. King was only 25 years old.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

On March 2, 1955, a 15-year-old girl refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus in violation of local law. Claudette Colvin was arrested and taken to jail. At first, the local chapter of the NAACP felt they had an excellent test case to challenge Montgomery's segregated bus policy. But then it was revealed that she was pregnant and civil rights leaders feared this would scandalize the deeply religious black community and make Colvin (and, thus the group's efforts) less credible in the eyes of sympathetic whites.

On December 1, 1955, they got another chance to make their case. That evening, 42-year-old Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home from an exhausting day at work. She sat in the first row of the "colored" section in the middle of the bus. As the bus traveled its route, all the seats it the white section filled up, then several more white passengers boarded the bus. The bus driver noted that there were several white men standing and demanded that Parks and several other African Americans give up their seats. Three other African American passengers reluctantly gave up their places, but Parks remained seated. The driver asked her again to give up her seat and again she refused. Parks was arrested and booked for violating the Montgomery City Code. At her trial a week later, in a 30-minute hearing, Parks was found guilty and fined $10 and assessed $4 court fee.

On the night that Rosa Parks was arrested, E.D. Nixon, head of the local NAACP chapter met with Martin Luther King Jr. and other local civil rights leaders to plan a citywide bus boycott. King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young, well-trained with solid family connections and had professional standing. But he was also new to the community and had few enemies, so it was felt he would have strong credibility with the black community.

In his first speech as the group's president, King declared, "We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice."

Martin Luther King Jr.'s fresh and skillful rhetoric put a new energy into the civil rights struggle in Alabama. The bus boycott would be 382 days of walking to work, harassment, violence and intimidation for the Montgomery's African-American community. Both King's and E.D. Nixon's homes were attacked. But the African-American community also took legal action against the city ordinance arguing that it was unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court's "separate is never equal" decision in Brown v. Board of Education. After being defeated in several lower court rulings and suffering large financial losses, the city of Montgomery lifted the law mandating segregated public transportation.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Flush with victory, African-American civil rights leaders recognized the need for a national organization to help coordinate their efforts. In January 1957, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and 60 ministers and civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches. They would help conduct non-violent protests to promote civil rights reform. King's participation in the organization gave him a base of operation throughout the South, as well as a national platform. The organization felt the best place to start to give African Americans a voice was to enfranchise them in the voting process. In February 1958, the SCLC sponsored more than 20 mass meetings in key southern cities to register black voters in the South. King met with religious and civil rights leaders and lectured all over the country on race-related issues.

In 1959, with the help of the American Friends Service Committee, and inspired by Gandhi's success with non-violent activism, Martin Luther King visited Gandhi's birthplace in India. The trip affected him in a deeply profound way, increasing his commitment to America's civil rights struggle. African-American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who had studied Gandhi's teachings, became one of King's associates and counseled him to dedicate himself to the principles of non-violence. Rustin served as King's mentor and advisor throughout his early activism and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. But Rustin was also a controversial figure at the time, being a homosexual with alleged ties to the Communist Party, USA. Though his counsel was invaluable to King, many of his other supporters urged him to distance himself from Rustin.

In February 1960, a group of African-American students began what became known as the "sit-in" movement in Greensboro, North Carolina. The students would sit at racially segregated lunch counters in the city's stores. When asked to leave or sit in the colored section, they just remained seated, subjecting themselves to verbal and sometimes physical abuse. The movement quickly gained traction in several other cities. In April 1960, the SCLC held a conference at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina with local sit-in leaders. Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged students to continue to use nonviolent methods during their protests. Out of this meeting, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee formed and for a time, worked closely with the SCLC. By August of 1960, the sit-ins had been successful in ending segregation at lunch counters in 27 southern cities.

By 1960, Martin Luther King Jr. was gaining national notoriety. He returned to Atlanta to become co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church, but also continued his civil rights efforts. On October 19, 1960, King and 75 students entered a local department store and requested lunch-counter service but were denied. When they refused to leave the counter area, King and 36 others were arrested. Realizing the incident would hurt the city's reputation, Atlanta's mayor negotiated a truce and charges were eventually dropped. But soon after, King was imprisoned for violating his probation on a traffic conviction. The news of his imprisonment entered the 1960 presidential campaign, when candidate John F. Kennedy made a phone call to Coretta Scott King. Kennedy expressed his concern for King's harsh treatment for the traffic ticket and political pressure was quickly set in motion. King was soon released.

'I Have a Dream'

In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. organized a demonstration in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Entire families attended. City police turned dogs and fire hoses on demonstrators. Martin Luther King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, but the event drew nationwide attention. However, King was personally criticized by black and white clergy alike for taking risks and endangering the children who attended the demonstration. From the jail in Birmingham, King eloquently spelled out his theory of non-violence: "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community, which has constantly refused to negotiate, is forced to confront the issue."

By the end of the Birmingham campaign, Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters were making plans for a massive demonstration on the nation's capital composed of multiple organizations, all asking for peaceful change. On August 28, 1963, the historic March on Washington drew more than 200,000 people in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. It was here that King made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, emphasizing his belief that someday all men could be brothers.

"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."  — Martin Luther King, Jr. / "I Have A Dream" speech, August 28, 1963

The rising tide of civil rights agitation produced a strong effect on public opinion. Many people in cities not experiencing racial tension began to question the nation's Jim Crow laws and the near century second class treatment of African-American citizens. This resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorizing the federal government to enforce desegregation of public accommodations and outlawing discrimination in publicly owned facilities. This also led to Martin Luther King receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 1964.

King's struggle continued throughout the 1960s. Often, it seemed as though the pattern of progress was two steps forward and one step back. On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march, planned from Selma to Alabama's capital in Montgomery, turned violent as police with nightsticks and tear gas met the demonstrators as they tried to cross the Edmond Pettus Bridge. King was not in the march, however the attack was televised showing horrifying images of marchers being bloodied and severely injured. Seventeen demonstrators were hospitalized leading to the naming the event "Bloody Sunday." A second march was cancelled due to a restraining order to prevent the march from taking place. A third march was planned and this time King made sure he was on it. Not wanting to alienate southern judges by violating the restraining order, a different tact was taken. On March 9, 1965, a procession of 2,500 marchers, both black and white, set out once again to cross the Pettus Bridge and confronted barricades and state troopers. Instead of forcing a confrontation, King led his followers to kneel in prayer and they then turned back. The event caused King the loss of support among some younger African-American leaders, but it nonetheless aroused support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

From late 1965 through 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. expanded his Civil Rights Movement into other larger American cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles. But he met with increasing criticism and public challenges from young black-power leaders. King's patient, non-violent approach and appeal to white middle-class citizens alienated many black militants who considered his methods too weak and too late. In the eyes of the sharp-tongued, blue jean young urban black, King's manner was irresponsibly passive and deemed non-effective. To address this criticism King began making a link between discrimination and poverty. He expanded his civil rights efforts to the Vietnam War. He felt that America's involvement in Vietnam was politically untenable and the government's conduct of the war discriminatory to the poor. He sought to broaden his base by forming a multi-race coalition to address economic and unemployment problems of all disadvantaged people.

Assassination and Legacy

By 1968, the years of demonstrations and confrontations were beginning to wear on Martin Luther King Jr. He had grown tired of marches, going to jail, and living under the constant threat of death. He was becoming discouraged at the slow progress civil rights in America and the increasing criticism from other African-American leaders. Plans were in the works for another march on Washington to revive his movement and bring attention to a widening range of issues. In the spring of 1968, a labor strike by Memphis sanitation workers drew King to one last crusade. On April 3, in what proved to be an eerily prophetic speech, he told supporters, "I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land." The next day, while standing on a balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel, Martin Luther King Jr. was struck by a sniper's bullet. The shooter, a malcontent drifter and former convict named James Earl Ray, was eventually apprehended after a two-month, international manhunt. The killing sparked riots and demonstrations in more than 100 cities across the country. In 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to assassinating King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He died in prison on April 23, 1998.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s life had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States. Years after his death, he is the most widely known African-American leader of his era. His life and work have been honored with a national holiday, schools and public buildings named after him, and a memorial on Independence Mall in Washington, D.C. But his life remains controversial as well. In the 1970s, FBI files, released under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that he was under government surveillance, and suggested his involvement in adulterous relationships and communist influences. Over the years, extensive archival studies have led to a more balanced and comprehensive assessment of his life, portraying him as a complex figure: flawed, fallible and limited in his control over the mass movements with which he was associated, yet a visionary leader who was deeply committed to achieving social justice through nonviolent means.