When President Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Monday, he'll place his hand on a bible with deep roots in Alabama.
... a bible that was owned by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
King used the bible during his time as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. He also carried it with him as his "traveling bible," using on the road for inspiration and preparing sermons and speeches.
The symbolism is significant: Obama's ceremonial swearing in on the Capitol steps falls on MLK Day.
King's children said ...
“We know our father would be deeply moved to see President Obama take the Oath of Office using his bible,” the King family said in a statement. “His ‘traveling bible’ inspired him as he fought for freedom, justice and equality, and we hope it can be a source of strength for the President as he begins his second term."
MLK and His Guns
.... Most people think King would be the last person to own a gun. Yet in the mid-1950s, as the civil rights movement heated up, King kept firearms for self-protection. In fact, he even applied for a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
A recipient of constant death threats, King had armed supporters take turns guarding his home and family. He had good reason to fear that the Klan in Alabama was targeting him for assassination.
William Worthy, a journalist who covered the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, reported that once, during a visit to King's parsonage, he went to sit down on an armchair in the living room and, to his surprise, almost sat on a loaded gun. Glenn Smiley, an adviser to King, described King's home as "an arsenal."
As I found researching my new book, Gunfight, in 1956, after King's house was bombed, King applied for a concealed carry permit in Alabama. The local police had discretion to determine who was a suitable person to carry firearms. King, a clergyman whose life was threatened daily, surely met the requirements of the law, but he was rejected nevertheless. At the time, the police used any wiggle room in the law to discriminate against African Americans.
Ironically, the concealed carry permit law in Alabama was promoted by the National Rifle Association thirty years earlier. Today, the gun rights hardliners fight to eliminate permits for concealed carry.....
