Dr. Alveda King discusses the assassinations of her uncle, Martin Luther King, Jr, her father, A.D. King, and her grandmother. She explains how she is carrying on the King's civil rights legacy. Dr. King shares personal reflections on her faith and sings a song from her childhood during the civil rights movement.
Alveda C. King, PhD, serves as Chair of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for the American Dream. She is the daughter of the late slain civil rights activist Rev. A. D. King and the niece of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as a Christian evangelist; graduate of Aidan University; and is founder of SPEAK FOR LIFE, and ALVEDA KING MINISTRIES (www.alvedaking.com). Dr. King is also an acclaimed author, Fox News Channel contributor, Fox Nation host, NEWSMAX blog contributor, twice elected to GA State House, past presidential appointee, 2021 recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a film and music industry veteran.
Recommended documentaries by Dr. King:
Unsolved History: A.D. King
A.D. King: Brother to the Dream
Mother of Kings
Naomi King, The Butterfly Queen From Tragedy to Peace
www.becomingoutlaws.com
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Every year I take my son, he's 19 now, but for several years, I
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take him somewhere across the country and we do a father-son
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trip together him, a few years ago three to five years ago.
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We went to Atlanta and we said and Ebenezer Baptist Church and
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sat and looked at a empty platform with the microphone and
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the podium there and listened to your uncle.
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Preach and I got to tell you it was very very moving and just to
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kind of get a sense of just a think about what it was like
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back then and you grew up in that environment.
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Could you tell us a little bit about your dad?
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Your grandpa and your uncle is far as being Baptist preachers
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and what life was like for you in that environment.
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I'm wet many people call up PK a preacher.
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Spray it, and I grew up in a lot of those are brats.
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You know, there's a brass preachers kids all that we are,
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we can be and I grew up in such an environment and I have six
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living children now and 11 grandchildren, and I was telling
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my grandchildren. Are you guys are ungrateful?
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Arrogant, you feel self? Entitled, I don't owe you
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anything. You don't owe me anything except
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respect. However, we are going to have to
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learn gratefulness and To, I didn't have a lot of that, but
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being 72 years old born in 1951. We weren't allowed so much to
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talk back to our parents, and to say what we thought, and all
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that, and I did raise my children and grandchildren with
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a little more of that Liberty. But to answer your question
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today, if I were to go and Ebenezer Baptist Church in the
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historic church today, walk in and walk towards the front,
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there would be the voice of Martin.
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The king jr. Playing over what we called
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allowed system, the recording would be playing and I could
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immediately be transported back to the days of my childhood.
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Not only was I raised by Baptist preachers.
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I was always in church whenever the church doors open pretty
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much. And so I'm always transported
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back there recently, we celebrated the 94th or 95th
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birthday of Martin and my daddy and I called Martin ankle and
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mayo. They're older sister, she was
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the firstborn Christine and we were celebrating her birthday.
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Now interestingly enough I was seated right where the organ was
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where she was shot playing the organ in 1973 73-74.
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My memory kind of mushrooms those up, but she was playing
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the organ one Sunday and a gunman came in and shot her
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while she was playing the organ. And then I could be immediately
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transported back again to think about my, uh, Uncle being shot
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and 68, my daddy being choked and thrown into a swimming pool
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and 69. So blowing up though with them,
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I always heard from all of them faith, hope love forgiveness.
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Then here as much as I mix it. Until I grew up but faith.
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Hope love and foot and and forget and faith.
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Hope love and forgiveness. So I was talking forgive from an
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early age. I didn't learn the lesson all
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the way until many years later. So growing up
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honest-to-goodness. They were Rascals take my word
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for it. My Daddy drank, a little
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alcohol, and different kinds of things.
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So they were human. Martin Luther King jr.
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Was the closest out of Three children that was Kristine
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Martin and Alfred Uncle email was the one who was always
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closer to the Bible and more serious.
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So it was he perfect? Absolutely not.
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But he really did love the Lord. So I grew up around people who
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have faith, who never lost hope, and loved dearly, and were able
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to forgive any injury, and I can do that today.
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I still have that in my heart. Yeah.
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So when you look back I mean you you must be proud of their faith
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proud of what they've done what they stood for.
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And they're assassinations excluding your your
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grandmother's which was horrific but your dad ad King and your
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uncle Martin Luther King jr. I mean, they both knew that that
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was a high probability, they talked about it, they did in
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Martin said something about Uncle Mel said, longevity has
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This place. But he's who's going to go ahead
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and do the work of the Lord. He never expected to live a long
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life. Neither did my dad unfortunately
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because, you know, both of their homes were bombed Martin Luther.
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King's house was bombed in Montgomery.
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Daddy's house the church parsonage in 1963 dad is church
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was bombed. They have been beaten severely
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continually jail. They understood what they were
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doing is fascinating to me, the more I think back on it and I
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I'll be very honest when I pray, I say God, I know, I grew up in
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a, in a family. I'll do anything for you to.
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You've got my life died, you can have it.
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I say, however, your Bible says in, Psalms 91, with long life,
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will I satisfy you show you myself a shh?
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I said, I really, and I pray this since I was, at least in my
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thirties, forties own up till now, I said, I want to see my
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children. I want to see my grandchildren
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and now I'm talking about see a great grandchildren.
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So we all know Maybe those of us who walk a journey like this.
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And I called us Christian Warriors.
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People who have sold our lives out to God.
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So but when you begin to know God, you can have a conversation
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with God and you could say, well I'll do anything for you.
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Absolutely. However, it would be nice if I
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could do. So and so and so that's the
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difference between me my daddy and my uncle.
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I don't know if there's ever been a major substitution
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movement for good that didn't have a martyr or more and your
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dad and Martin Luther King, weren't they both 39 years old?
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I mean, their life's were in their Prime.
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Well, if you talk about Martyrs and people who will live that
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way and accept that, that does happen almost in every movement
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and you'll think about it and then sometimes you'll see in
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movements some of the people do grow to finish it and finish,
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that course, and become old. I think about David, David was a
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really old man and he was a mighty warrior for God, Moses, I
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lived a long life as well and so you can have Martyrs and
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movements. It's but it's not necessarily
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the case in every movement. Yeah, yeah.
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I'm a little bit of a history buff, so I can't have you on and
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not ask you this the the assassinations of JD king, led
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King, excuse me, and Martin Luther.
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Your dad. I mean, if you went to a history
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book or something, it would say something more to the effect
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that it was a death, unknown accidental death, accidental
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drowning, it's clearly not, do you feel that he knew had
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figured out that there was a bigger plot other than James
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Earl Ray. and, When that did him and what he didn't like that
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information. I'd like to share with you and
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I'll make sure you can put it up on your website.
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There are four documentaries out that are answering some of the
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things that happened during the lives of Martin Luther King jr.
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A decaying Alberta Kingdom mother and all of that.
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And so I remember the night before daddy died, he was on the
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phone telling somebody and he was arguing he says, you killed
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my brother. I know you killed my brother.
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I'm not going to be quiet and he was Yelling and back and forth.
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And when I went in the house I said, were you talking to
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nobody? He hung up the phone.
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So Dad did know. And for a while, Uncle emails
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children, we're doing some investigations beyond the James
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Earl Ray situation as well. So there has been some knowledge
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that it was a larger situation with not only members of our
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family. But just in that movement, there
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are many unsung heroes and sheroes I call them in the
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movement. So So there's a lot of that but
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what has happened. None of that is new to human
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history. If you look at Esther and
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Mordecai and Haman and the, and the king who actually was a
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pagan King, by the way, pagan, meaning he did not embrace the
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god that the Jews were worshipping of Abraham, and
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Isaac, and Jacob, that's all. I mean, when I say that, so when
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you look at their history, there were conspiracies.
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And there were always underline things.
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And Pharisees are not new which is why today.
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I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I don't just always spend all my
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time. Think, who did it?
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Why I did it? Evil is happening, all of that
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is true, but God Is Bigger Than The Devil and when you know that
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God is really strong, that's where you lose your fear and you
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stand on your faith because, you know, get try to think of two
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things at the same time I may ask you, what was your last meal
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of you had it. And then I'll say, What's the
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weather? Look outside the minute, you
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change. The thinking about the weather.
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You can't think about the last meal.
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You can't think about two things at the same time.
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So faith and fear can't be there at the same time, either.
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It has to be the faith or it has to be fear.
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And that's one thing that I've learned growing up.
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Dueling for history, purposes for history, purposes for people
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to know exactly find out what happened to your dad or is it
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just we do, you know, people do explore and examine.
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Am and over a period of time, the truth does come out and the
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records are set straight. But as I say, I've just never
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been a conspiracy theorist and so I'm not, I do know that there
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were underlying factors and other issues and that it was all
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by Design and plan and it was all connected.
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I do know that. However, like I say faith and
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fear, can't coexist. Yeah.
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And if I spend all my time trying to unravel the Mysteries,
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Then I don't have time to do the other work that I'm doing.
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However, therefore documentaries, one is about my
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mother Naomi King and she does a documentary.
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Who was she talks about her husband having been killed?
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She sure of it. Then there's one called unsolved
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history history, I stopped histories and then there's now
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one mother of Kings you need to see that it's on Amazon and to
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be, I think and then the brothers of the dream.
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So there are four and I'd be happy for you to put that up on
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your website. So you do with the for trailers,
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I'd be happy for you to put those up.
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So there are conspiracies, there are issues, but if we spend all
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of our time dwelling with the conspiracies, you can't overcome
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evil with good. If you're really just all the
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time, trying to stop the conspiracies, right?
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So growing up in a don't know. If you could grow up anymore,
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Christian home, your daddy king was a Baptist Minister.
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Your uncle of course was ML and your grandfather.
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And I had mentioned to you before recorded that I listened
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to the audiobook of the king rules.
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I enjoyed that. And what I find interesting when
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I read about you, dr. King is that it I keep running
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across 1983, it says you became a born-again Christian.
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So I love this topic because I think there's a would be a lot
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of confusion and people's mind of people who are Christian, but
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then there's a distinction between born-again Christian.
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How does that distinction? What happened to you in 1983?
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I was born into a Christian family 1951.
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My grandfather, convince my mother got to abort me.
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She wanted an abortion and she would have called the the DNC
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then because abortion was illegal but she wasn't ready to
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Bear a. Child granddaddy told her don't
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do it. She didn't do it.
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I was born raised in the church going to church all the time,
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singing in the choir, love the Lord, loved the scriptures, and
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all of that 1973, many things happened in 1973.
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You have to think 1963 prayer, was taken out of school.
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By Matt, want a woman named madalyn O'Hair.
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She didn't want Son, praying and learning things about God in
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school and then it's 73 abortion became legal in America.
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Now, at that time I had an abortion in 1970 and 1973 and
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then right after that a miscarriage because of the
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abortion, my body was damaged. So I entered into another state
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of existence. I was a grown woman have been
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married, divorced soon after that, and I became involved in
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The New Age movement I became very into the metaphysics and
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all of that. I had always loved since it came
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out in the 60s, Star Trek live, long and prosper.
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What mr. Spock and Captain Kirk, and all
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that. So for 10 years, I examined all
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and I had studied the religions in school.
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So for 10 whole years, I was just exploring the universe and
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everything still calling myself a Christian with drop in and out
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of church occasionally in M83 was between 83 and 84, exact
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day. That I wish I could tell you.
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So, I had gone to take a new job as a college.
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Professor, I had been a state legislator have been acting in
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movies with Burt riddles, and Sharky's Machine.
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Although, all those kind of things were going on in my life
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and I became a college professor.
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So, a lady asked me, she said, I'll be the who is Jesus and I
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said the He was born of the Virgin, Mary died on the cross,
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everything I had learned as a little girl.
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She asked me again, who is Jesus?
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And I gave a little more knowledge that I had learned and
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all of my research and studies the third time.
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She said it three times who is Jesus said, well I guess he's
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God. Then I said no, I know, he's God
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so it's like a light bulb, went pop.
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And all of a sudden I wanted to know everything about God and
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Jesus had even gotten to the holy spirit yet and so over the
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next few several years all the way up until today I have gone
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on to know the Lord. So people will ask me all types
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of things and things are I believe and is the ocean part of
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a universe that's full of energy and what about chakras and
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Meridian? Ins, I can still talk about
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those things and answer them, but I have explored a genuine
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relationship with God. Since I became a born-again
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Christian, it was right around 1983 and then over the next few
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months, the lady just stay close to me.
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We went from 83 on into 84 and I committed myself to God and I
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have been committed every since and I've turned my back on
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Fortune's, Fame, just all kinds of opportunities Act.
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Invitees, but I don't regret it. One bit.
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I was even able to birth six children after two abortions and
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damage to my body with a miscarriage.
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I was able to birth six children to repent of their abortions and
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all of that and to just live or just a Wonderful Life.
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And here I am now, like I say, all these years later and I'm
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still learning who God is, I'm still learning, right?
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So you've Carried on in a sense the Civil Rights torch but your
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civil rights for The Unborn and I'm a guardian of the King
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Family Legacy as well as what I did was to bring those two
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things together. Because civil rights is not just
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based on skin color, people will argue about skin color and One
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race getting along with another race.
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That's one blood and One race at 17 26 and science will prove
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this. Also there are no Current human
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race s. There's one human race.
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Ethnicity will give you skin color body types, different
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cultural experiences but there's one blood and One race.
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Now, first, I had to grasp that and get that so skin color.
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Argument goes out the window. I have a book, we're not
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colorblind with Ginger, Ginger, Howard.
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And we said if you're color blind and you're going to ignore
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somebody's ethnicity, their pain, their victories.
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So we're not going to ignore anything.
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We're going to embrace humanity and love human beings.
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So the next part of that, then if we're going to embrace One
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race, the baby in the womb is still part of the human race.
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That's a human being. So it's the womb to the tomb
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into eternity and then any other human differences that we have,
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we are going with sexuality skin color, just X socioeconomics
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conditions money. Class culture, but we are human
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beings as one human race, and we have to have human dignity.
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So, does that mean we have to agree with everybody on
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everything? Because like right now today?
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When Roe v-- Wade, went back to the states, to further examine
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all the evidence that yes, abortion kills a person?
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Yes, abortion hurts women, a lot in many cases.
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So we're going to go. Examine all the facts that they
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did not have in 73 and take a look at that human sexuality
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today. People arguing over Mary's just
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arguing have a fence and fighting who can marry, who two
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men marrying two. Ladies one man can have 50 wives
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or what lady can have 50 husband's all this stuff.
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So I tried to tell him in 2000. I says why don't we just stop
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arguing over marriage? Let's see.
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Civil unions handle. Marriage, give unto Caesar, what
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belongs to Caesar and to God, what belongs to God?
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I said now, holy matrimony. That's different.
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That's real clear. God has divided defined, holy
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matrimony and we should not allow that to be redefined.
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People couldn't understand it. They told me you're not really a
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Christian because a real Christian wouldn't say something
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like that. I said, well, okay.
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So here we are. 22 years later. 23 years later.
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Still arguing over the same thing.
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That's right. But if we really go to the Bible
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and let God give us these genuine definitions, we won't
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have all these arguments. Right.
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Well, I appreciate your time. And is it asking too much?
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You're also a music lady. Is that right?
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Yes, I am. Is it asking too much is a
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little benediction to this program to ended in a old-time
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him or some sort. I'd like to connect it this way,
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if you don't mind it because it takes us back to the Civil
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Rights movements movement, when I was a little girl, and we were
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seeing this and when we were March, we would March together
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seeing him together. Pray together, and this is a
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song, it's really kind of universal is song in every
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language and old people. Little People young people
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doesn't matter skin color or whatever.
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The difference is our everybody acknowledges that light is very
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very important. Jesus said, I am the way, the
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truth and the life. No one comes to the father,
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except by me, he also said let your light so shine before men
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so people can see that and glorify Heavenly father.
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So this little song is one that everybody can sing.
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And it goes like this. This Little Light of Mine.
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I'm gonna let it shine This Little Light of Mine.
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I'm going to let it shine This Little Light of Mine.
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I'm gonna let it shine. Let It Shine.
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Let It Shine. It Shine.
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Let It Shine. It Shine.
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Let It Shine.