"The Supreme Court vs. MLK Jr." Prof Randall Kennedy Lecture at NY Historic Soc.

Guest lecturer Randall Kennedy is Prof of Law at Harvard Law School.  He spoke with anger, and rightly so, about the state judge in AL that sentenced MLK Jr. & his associates in 1963 to prison for disobeying an injunction blocking their right to march in protest against segregation & Jim Crow laws in the South.  Eugene "Bull" Connor was Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham which oversaw the Police and Fire Dept.  He was a self-proclaimed white suprematist who used the law to defy civil rights, racial integration and disavow MLK & protestors their rights to march by issuing injunctions.  "Bull" Connor is infamous for ordering firehoses & police dogs to attack black protestors; images that have become shameful iconic reminders of racial hatred and oppression.  The Gov. of AL at the time (1963-7) George Wallace was sworn to uphold segregation, "Segregation now and forever."  Working within the law to issue injunctions against peaceful protests under MLK's leadership Connor ordered the arrests of the protestors.  A state court judge upheld the injunctions as lawful in the interest of protecting public safety and so as not to over burden the local police ensured to maintain peace.  MLK challenge of the constitutionality of the injunctions was denied as cited by the Collateral Bar Rule (CBR).  It's confusing & disheartening to know that the Supreme Court in a 5-4  in the 1967 case Walker v. City of Birmingham, upheld the lower courts ruling against MLK protecting the rulings of the courts and not defending the individual's constitutional rights for free speech.  It was during MLK imprisonment in the spring of 1963 he wrote his letter of civil disobedience a.k.a. "The Letter from Birmingham Jail".  The letter served as a galvanizing, tangible reproducible account of the arduous journey to freedom in a movement mainly centered on actions and words.  Prof Kennedy acknowledged civil rights attorney  Deborah Greenberg in the audience.  Kennedy pointed out that she is the widow of Jack Greenberg who served as Director Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (1961-4) succeeding Mr. Thurgood Marshall.