2017 Martin Luther King Jr.   Silver Shield disobey COPPER  .999 FINE   BU round 

Chris Duane says

The most successful American to employ civil disobedience to fight the powers that be, was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His moral fight for racial justice in the deep south could only be fought he felt with peaceful non compliance to unjust and racist laws. He saw much like Gandhi that evil comes from the unconscious and to bring powerful, sustained, consciousness to light, evil will always shirk away.

While I admire Dr. King for his actions for social justice on racial issues, it was his final stance that has me enthralled.

Martin Luther King Jr went from champion of racial issues to taking on the powerful Military Industrial Complex. In April 1967 he stepped forward and challenged the Vietnam War on the same moral basis as he did with Civil Rights.

While the Civil Rights movement could be hijacked by racists like Lyndon Johnson who is quoted of saying "I'll have those niggers voting Democratic for 200 years", war protests could not be tolerated. Especially by a man who was so successful in employing non violent, non compliance and has a Nobel Peace Prize.

Martin Luther King Jr.: "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam"

Sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967

"I call on the young men of America who must make a choice today to take a stand on this issue. Tomorrow may be too late. The book may close. And don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, "You're too arrogant! And if you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I'll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn't even know my name. Be still and know that I'm God."