Special coverage on Democracy NOW: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

Special coverage on Democracy NOW: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

By Andreas Klamm

Washington, D.C. / New York City/January 19, 2009/Democracy NOW!/3mnewswire.org/-- The independent television and radio program Democracy NOW! hosted by the award winning broadcast journalist and author Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez will air today a special program to honor the Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. He was born 80 years ago, on January 15th, 1929. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just thirty-nine years old.

Tomorrow, more than four decades after Dr. King’s death, Barack Obama will take his oath of office to become the 44th president of the United States and the first African American president in US history. The Reverend Joseph Lowery, a civil rights icon who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr, King, will deliver the benediction at the inauguration ceremony. Obama accepted the Democratic party nomination on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, arguably his most famous address.

While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People"s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic US foreign policy and the Vietnam War.

Democracy NOW! will provide a special coverage about the presidential inauguration ceremony tomorrow on January, 20, 2009.

Democracy NOW! can be seen on more than 700 TV station and heard on about 250 radio stations and on the internet on www.democracynow.org

Democracy NOW! is hosted by Amy Goodman, award winninng journalist and author of three hard-hitting books, such as "Standing up to the madness", which she has written with David Goodman. In December 2008 Amy Goodman has received the Right Livelihood Award which is known as the alternative Nobel prize.

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