NEW YORK—The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the civil rights advocacy organization National Action Network (NAN), invited the city’s key politicians to reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence at the NAN headquarters in Harlem on Monday. King’s message of nonviolence resonated with the recent shooting in Arizona.
“King was a critic of gun violence, and a victim of it,” said Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).
King’s home was bombed twice over his years of vocal activism, and he received threats almost daily. He fell victim to an assassin’s bullet at the age of 39 while standing on his motel balcony in Memphis, Tenn.
“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation—either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg quoted King, noting his resilience through the violence perpetrated against him.
King’s eloquent words and his inspiring actions were a thread running through politicians’ speeches. Hundreds of people packed the House of Justice on West 145th Street. The predominantly African-American crowd spilled out onto the street, where they could still hear the speeches from a loudspeaker.
Bloomberg was met by a mixed reaction—“boos” mingled with subdued clapping. The mayor was introduced by the Rev. Sharpton, who lauded his appearance at the House of Justice, as the two have not always seen eye-to-eye in the past. Sharpton reflected that King worked closely with his adversaries, recognizing that cooperation is the only way to effect change.
After an awkward start, Bloomberg broke the ice by joking that Sharpton might be played by Denzel Washington if his book, “Mountain Highs and Valley Lows,” is ever made into a movie. He earned a couple of chuckles, and soon won some applause for his tough stance on gun control.
The recent shooting in Tuscon, Ariz., that left 6 dead and 13 wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, ignited a national gun control debate. Bloomberg joined 500 mayors in the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition to hammer out stricter rules for obtaining firearms. Jared Loughner, the Tuscon shooter, was turned away by the army after failing a drug test. The mayors are calling for better interagency communication to identify people who should not own a gun. Those with a record of drug abuse should have to wait five years instead of one to get a gun, they said.
African-American young men are 10 times more likely to die of gun violence than their Caucasian counterparts, the mayor pointed out. Though King won many victories for African-American civil rights, many more are left to the activists of today.
“King was a critic of gun violence, and a victim of it,” said Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).
King’s home was bombed twice over his years of vocal activism, and he received threats almost daily. He fell victim to an assassin’s bullet at the age of 39 while standing on his motel balcony in Memphis, Tenn.
“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation—either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg quoted King, noting his resilience through the violence perpetrated against him.
King’s eloquent words and his inspiring actions were a thread running through politicians’ speeches. Hundreds of people packed the House of Justice on West 145th Street. The predominantly African-American crowd spilled out onto the street, where they could still hear the speeches from a loudspeaker.
Bloomberg was met by a mixed reaction—“boos” mingled with subdued clapping. The mayor was introduced by the Rev. Sharpton, who lauded his appearance at the House of Justice, as the two have not always seen eye-to-eye in the past. Sharpton reflected that King worked closely with his adversaries, recognizing that cooperation is the only way to effect change.
After an awkward start, Bloomberg broke the ice by joking that Sharpton might be played by Denzel Washington if his book, “Mountain Highs and Valley Lows,” is ever made into a movie. He earned a couple of chuckles, and soon won some applause for his tough stance on gun control.
The recent shooting in Tuscon, Ariz., that left 6 dead and 13 wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, ignited a national gun control debate. Bloomberg joined 500 mayors in the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition to hammer out stricter rules for obtaining firearms. Jared Loughner, the Tuscon shooter, was turned away by the army after failing a drug test. The mayors are calling for better interagency communication to identify people who should not own a gun. Those with a record of drug abuse should have to wait five years instead of one to get a gun, they said.
African-American young men are 10 times more likely to die of gun violence than their Caucasian counterparts, the mayor pointed out. Though King won many victories for African-American civil rights, many more are left to the activists of today.
