Still Dreamin'

Today is cold and rainy, a great day to stay home by a fire and watch old movies which, I'm ashamed to say, is what I will be doing instead of this. It's also a good day to listen to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s great "I Have A Dream" speech which can be found here among other places. Some of my favorite films that deal with black/white race relations in the US are In the Heat of the Night, A Raisin in the Sun, Intruder in the Dust, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Cabin in the Sky which, while it doesn't deal specifically with race relations in its plot, was the first movie with an all-black cast produced by the Big Money Boys in Hollywood, and included Lena Horne and Ethel Waters in its great cast. Tonight, Turner Classic Movies is airing a series of films by director Charles Burnett which also looks well worth checking out.

Juan Cole has a good post up that puts King's legacy into the context of today's world. I also meant to put up a link to this post of his from the other day that was one of many that linked to a WaPo article by one Andrew Bacevich, both of which are highly worth checking out.