Today we remember Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a freethinker of the highest order. He was someone for whom freedom became a life’s work. He changed the world. In 1963 he had a dream.
Thank you Gil Scott-Heron. Thank you Stevie Wonder. Thank you for making sure that we will always remember. Thank you for leading your own change. In the early 80s, they ensured that the celebration of civil rights would always have a place on the calendar.
Now, Gil Scott-Heron has gone. There’s no celebratory concert at SOBs in downtown Manhattan. At least his memoirs (‘The Last Holiday’), recalling the campaign to introduce a Federal Holiday in honour of Martin Luther King, Jr have now seen the light of day. In 2012, let’s leave it to a youthful Gil Scott-Heron to remind us why Martin Luther King, Jr was important.