Lutzb 5 days ago | next |

It's a small world. During Martin Luther King Jr. visit to Berlin he was also awarded a honorary degree by the Theological School of the Protestant Church of West Berlin. The theologian and pastor handing over the degree during the ceremony is part of our family history. We still have a picture of both of them during the ceremony.

Here is a more detailed itinerary of MLKs visit to Berlin. https://www.aacvr-germany.org/dr-kings-visit-to-cold-war-ber...

spicymaki 4 days ago | prev | next |

This article was very educational. I did not know that Martin Luther King Sr. was such a prominent person, and the connection of the King family with Berlin. Thank you for posting it.

atlas_hugged 4 days ago | prev | next |

Oh how did I know the bigots would jump in these comments.

Hacker News is well on its way to become the Nazi bar by allowing the thinly veiled racism to survive.

A slowly boiling frog.

rising-sky 5 days ago | prev | next |

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vlovich123 5 days ago | root | parent | next |

If you put something in quotes, you should be directly quoting instead of paraphrasing (and I know you’re copying from the website).

> As I’ve said, Angela and I don’t exactly look like previous German and American leaders. But the fact that we can stand here today, along the fault line where a city was divided, speaks to an eternal truth: No wall can stand against the yearning of justice, the yearnings for freedom, the yearnings for peace that burns in the human heart. (Applause.)

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/0...

I think it’s a bit of leap to try to criticize him as failing to mention MLK when clearly he’s referencing political government officials even if his rhetoric is maybe imprecise to make that clear

croisillon 5 days ago | root | parent | next |

when you read OP "claims to greatly admire" you know they're just trying to invent a problem

edit: it's not GP, it's OP sorry

keybored 4 days ago | root | parent | prev |

I thought something was off about that top-comment. He would never miss an opportunity to compare himself to a greater man.

vlovich123 4 days ago | root | parent |

> He would never miss an opportunity to compare himself to a greater man

Many people apparently also like to shit on men greater than themselves.

cen4 5 days ago | root | parent | prev |

Obamas is making movies for Netflix and living in Martha's Vineyard. I don't see him in the same category as MLK. At all. Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class is applicable.

dachworker 5 days ago | root | parent |

Exactly what I was going to say. Obama is a centrist establishment politician, whereas MLK was an activist which, by definition, meant that he was operating at the then extremes of the political landscape. It would be insulting to many for Obama to compare himself to the great MLK. And from the other perspective, Obama is a POTUS first and a politician second and he clearly does not like his whole persona being "the black guy".

krapp 4 days ago | root | parent | next |

>Obama is a centrist establishment politician, whereas MLK was an activist which, by definition, meant that he was operating at the then extremes of the political landscape.

Which is funny because I remember when the narrative about Obama was that he was a black separatist raised at the foot of terrorist Bill Ayers, but that was before he was a crypto-Muslim Al-Qaeda sympathizer who wasn't even American mind you, and a Marxist-Leninist who planned to burn down the Constitution and turn the US over to communism. Also definitely the Antichrist and reincarnation of Hitler. Who was also totally a socialist.

All that, and the guy was barely even a progressive.

pessimizer 5 days ago | root | parent | prev |

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jonnybgood 5 days ago | root | parent |

What is it with some people these days telling black people who and what they are?

What's a "Cousin Pookie"? This sounds similar to someone who recently said a presidential candidate would make the White House smell like curry.

pfannkuchen 4 days ago | root | parent | next |

It is insincere pandering to claim to relate to legitimate struggles of an ethnic group by acting like you are part of that group, when in reality you grew up completely separate from that group and aren’t even the same ethnicity.

I think the confusing part is when people act like they are offended by this when really they wouldn’t care if not for being opposed to the person politically. So it’s like insincere mimicry of offense at insincere mimicry.

k3vinw 4 days ago | prev |

Not just odd, but ironic that an American president who claims to admire MLK would fail to acknowledge him and in doing so helped create an optical divide in appearance between himself and the past American leaders, whom he did acknowledge, that had visited Berlin.

jlev1 4 days ago | root | parent | next |

Obama was correct in observing that he looked different from past American presidents. As for “claims to admire”, the implication that Obama doesn’t really admire MLK (and that this speech proves it!) is just ludicrous.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you just don’t like Obama. Didn’t like him before you read this article, don’t like him now.

k3vinw 4 days ago | root | parent |

You’re not just going out on a limb, you’re jumping to conclusions. I’m specifically responding to the point already made in the article: “For whatever reason, Obama preferred to evoke memories of Kennedy and Reagan rather than the iconic black man he claims to greatly admire. Whether intentional or an oversight, the omission was odd, especially since his target audience was Americans, and Obama didn’t want his speech to sound too “European.””

As you can see “claims to admire” didn’t originate from me.

Perhaps you didn’t read the article?

k3vinw 4 days ago | root | parent | prev |

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.