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From Economic Vulnerability to Economic Security The Drum Major Institute is named after Martin Luther King Jr.'s sermon on the drum major instinct. Throughout his life, King harnessed the drum major instinct--which he defined as the desire "to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction,...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 18, 2010 12:21 PM
Young Workers: Hit Hard, Hitting Back Cross-posted with permission from Huffington Post. As newly elected secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, I traveled the country this fall, talking with workers and hearing their concerns. The economic crisis is causing a lot of pain. So many people have no...
Posted in DMI Blog on December 11, 2009 06:47 PM
On MLK and Civil Justice Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that "the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct"--the instinct to set oneself ahead of the pack, at the forefront, to distinguish oneself--into a life motivated by service to others...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 19, 2009 04:50 PM
Marching On When he was in jail in Birmingham, Martin Luther King Jr. talked to the white wardens about their quality of life. He wanted to know where they lived, how much they earned, what opportunities were available to them. He discovered...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 19, 2009 10:45 AM
Will Work for Justice I rushed back from Washington DC and the inaugural festivities yesterday to be at work today. While most of the rest of white collar America has the day off, the Drum Major Institute staff is busy fulfilling its mission to...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 19, 2009 09:52 AM
Wall Street Journal: Racism is a Myth The following is cross-posted on Huffington Post The voting booths hadn't even cooled down from last night's historic election, before the Wall Street Journal exploited the moment by not only suggesting that "racism as a barrier to achievement" will no...
Posted in DMI Blog on November 5, 2008 11:11 AM
Liveblogging the Marketplace of Ideas: Paid Sick Leave A few weeks ago, DMI released the newest installment of our Injustice Index. I found the facts on sick leave somewhat shocking. One in three employees without paid sick leave worry that taking time off when they are sick would...
Posted in DMI Blog on May 28, 2008 10:00 AM
Treatment of Immigrant Detainees Contradicts American Values Last Monday, my pleasant sunny morning with no symptoms of seasonal allergies came to an end when I started reading the disturbing article by Nina Bernstein, Few Details on Immigrants Who Died in Custody. The article narrates the death of...
Posted in DMI Blog on May 12, 2008 11:38 AM
Dr. King's Fair Housing Dream Deferred While the housing market works through this difficult period, my Administration remains steadfast in its commitment to help responsible homeowners, to end discrimination, and to work to ensure that all citizens have access to housing. During National Fair Housing Month,...
Posted in DMI Blog on April 5, 2008 02:30 PM
Beyond the Mountaintop: We're Not There Yet I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. —Dr. Martin Luther King, 1964 Nobel Peace...
Posted in DMI Blog on April 3, 2008 12:00 PM
Doing an End Run Around Justice in Texas Here we go again – get ready for another round of anti-immigrant sentiment in Farmers Branch, Texas. Yesterday, town officials in the wealthy Dallas suburb voted to require tenants to obtain a license from the town administration before being eligible...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 23, 2008 08:46 AM
What Would Dr. King Have Said About Immigration? Immigration has disappeared from the news as of late, only to be replaced by talk of the economy. Fear of a recession, news of the Fed rate cut, and polls that show that the economy is voters' number one concern...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 22, 2008 12:28 PM
On MLK Day, About that Funny Name... In honor of Martin Luther King Day today I thought it was high time to rerun Andrea's blog post from waaaay wayyyy back explaining how DMI got our name and our connection to Martin Luther King Jr's vision of a...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 21, 2008 10:34 AM
Jersey Pride Even as a native New Yorker, today I'm proud to say my father is a Jersey boy (sorry, Dad, for blowing your cover). After 1,099 executions in America over the past 31 years (the second highest number in the world),...
Posted in DMI Blog on December 18, 2007 08:27 AM
Another New Vision A few months ago, Washington Monthly published The New Vision, by venerable JFK speechwriter Ted Sorenson. While certainly a powerful message, I believe Mr. Sorenson's speech failed to directly address three pressing tactical issues facing the country at this point:...
Posted in DMI Blog on October 1, 2007 06:00 AM
S-Chip Update Written by The Daily Gotham's Daniel Millstone: "Have you been following the fight to reauthorize and expand the State-Child Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP)? Tuesday, a large majority of Congress members voted for a House-Senate compromise which will make lower cost...
Posted in DMI Blog on September 28, 2007 04:47 PM
Executing the Innocent? The state of Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis on October 14, 2007. And he might be innocent. If you doubt that an innocent man can end up on death row, bear in mind that 15 death row inmates have...
Posted in DMI Blog on July 24, 2007 07:00 AM
Thank you to everyone who came out last night to support us at the DMI Annual Benefit! Our benefit was a big success, due in large part to the crowd that showed up to celebrate Martin Luther King's legacy, the work DMI's been putting out and the work we plan to do. As Cornel West said last...
Posted in DMI Blog on June 22, 2007 01:44 PM
Filling Up Vacant Property An overwhelming number of apartments are being warehoused in empty buildings. What kind of new laws and policies would we need to see in order to stop that? Ours is a country founded on slavery, so it's no surprise that...
Posted in DMI Blog on May 29, 2007 07:00 AM
Meet Andrea Batista Schlesinger, The Drum Major Institute Andrea Batista Schlesinger was interviewed by Nancy Scola, from theMyDD Blog. Thought you all might like to read it - please find the interview is cross-posted below. This is the third in a series of MyDD interviews called Hearing Progressive...
Posted in DMI Blog on February 20, 2007 09:35 AM
An Eye for an Eye Leaves Everybody Blind (at least in New Jersey) Martin Luther King, Jr., once said that "violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 16, 2007 07:00 AM
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Thanks for keeping it real. Thanks to everyone who turned out for the "Realizing the Dream" MLK Commemoration yesterday at The Riverside Church; as you may have readop-ed decrying the generalized, media-friendly image of Dr. King that gets touted on this day- an image that...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 15, 2007 10:42 AM
Battling Invisibility Over fifty years ago, Ralph Ellison wrote his masterpiece, Invisible Man. The book begins, I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those that haubted Edgar Allen Poe ... I am a man of substance, of...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 15, 2007 08:55 AM
Free in NYC This Sunday (Jan. 14th)? Open Invite to a terrific MLK Event... John Edwards, recently touted on this blog, will be giving the keynote remarks at the 2nd annual "Realizing the Dream" King Day Commemoration Ceremony, this Sunday (the 14th) at 4pm at The Riverside Church (at 121st and Riverside, directions available...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 11, 2007 11:13 AM
Reflections on a Memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today was a very special day in America. Today, we broke ground on a memorial, on our National Mall, for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King is not only the first African-American to have a monument built in his...
Posted in DMI Blog on November 13, 2006 06:41 PM
Making Real the Promises of Our Democracy in All NYC Communities CAN YOU VOTE WHILE ON PROBATION? CAN YOU VOTE IF YOU HAVE BEEN CONVICTED OF A MISDEMEANOR? CAN YOU VOTE WHILE AWAITING TRIAL? CAN YOU VOTE ONCE YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR SENTENCE FOR A FELONY CONVICTION? If you do not know the answers to these questions, you are not alone. 48 of our 50 states strip citizens of their right to vote for varying periods of time. However, because these laws vary greatly from state to state, an alarming amount of misinformation surrounds these laws.
Posted in DMI Blog on October 11, 2006 01:28 PM
Why are we launching TortDeform.Com: The Civil Justice Defense Blog? Visit overlawyered.com and pointoflaw.com and then let me know if you figure it out. There is a line in the sand between the right and the left. It's about the role of government in our lives. All around us a...
Posted in DMI Blog on September 12, 2006 03:57 PM
Why Kos is like DMI, Why DMI likes Kos Crossposted at Howie Klien's great blog - Down With Tyrannny! (and thank you Howie for letting me guest blog). * * * * I'm one of those lucky people that got to attend the Yearly Kos conference as part of...
Posted in DMI Blog on June 19, 2006 08:42 AM
Notes from the Road - Martin Luther King, III and Realizing the Dream's Listening and Learning trip through America Starting the Tour Less than half a mile from a statue of my father in San Antonio, along a large commercial avenue, there sits a small, derelict red building. Planted in an empty lot, the white writing on its crimson...
Posted in DMI Blog on June 15, 2006 09:02 AM
Striking in Silence April 3, 2006 marks an important day in the lives of some sanitation workers. Not because it was the day before the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis while he was there supporting striking trash...
Posted in DMI Blog on June 14, 2006 06:38 AM
Wynton Marsalis is a Drum Major for Justice And you've got a chance to meet him. DMI is pleased to announce that the third and final honoree at our 2006 Annual Benefit is jazz legend, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wynton Marsalis. Now sometimes the...
Posted in DMI Blog on June 1, 2006 07:12 AM
Letter to the Editor of the week Why should the New York Times get all the fun? After all, if you're letter gets run in it, it will be read by one of the largest audiences around. Yesterday there were just a ton of right-on letter writers...
Posted in DMI Blog on February 9, 2006 01:43 PM
Remembering Coretta Scott King, For the Here and Now When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated more than 40 years ago, Coretta Scott King saw fit to give him proper tribute. Than she busied herself with the work of the country. Months later, she represented the movement at...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 31, 2006 11:17 AM
Lessons from the Transit Strike Last week the evolving story of the transit workers strike of 2005 took a surprising turn for the worst when union members rejected the contract recommended to them by their leadership by a razor thin margin of 7 votes. Roger...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 26, 2006 07:35 AM
Civl Rights Showdown It couldn't have been how Mayor Bloomberg wanted the week of Martin Luther King's birthday to start. Acclaimed education author Jonathan Kozol published a feature article, "Segregated Schools: Shame of New York City", on The Gotham Gazette web site that...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 19, 2006 07:09 AM
Our funny name "That's a funny name. What does it mean?" "If you really want to make it, you'll start by changing your name." "Do you give drum lessons?" These are the questions I've gotten used to in my four years working...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 16, 2006 10:28 AM
Personal Liberty and the Collective Voice Grassroots advocacy contributes to a more open, democratic and inclusive process for determining public policy. Over a hundred years ago, in Democracy in America, Tocqueville observed the importance of minority groups in mitigating the omnipotence of the majority. He notes...
Posted in DMI Blog on January 5, 2006 08:34 AM
James Carmichael James Carmichael works for Why Tuesday?, a non-partisan election reform organization. He has worked as the Director of Special Projects for Realizing the Dream, a new non-profit headed up by Martin Luther King, III, and as a Site Coordinator for...
Posted in DMI Blog on September 5, 2004 04:32 PM
Martin Luther King, III In January of 2006, Martin King co-founded Realizing the Dream, a non-profit dedicated to continuing his father's unfinished work: the fight against poverty and economic injustice in America. Throughout the summer of 2006, he traveled on a Listening and Learning...
Posted in DMI Blog on September 5, 2004 03:51 PM
Andrea Batista Schlesinger Andrea Batista Schlesinger applied her background in public policy, politics and communications to lead the effort to turn the Drum Major Institute, originally founded by an advisor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement, into...
Posted in DMI Blog on September 5, 2004 03:38 PM