This Week in the Shack

For those who might be reading this from outside the United States, today is a holiday in the US honouring the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the great civil rights leader who was murdered in 1968. Given the recent comments of filth like Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh - spokesmen for a significant portion of America, proudly and profoundly ignorant and xenophobic, justifying their bigotry with a nauseating form of Christian extremism that bears only cosmetic differences from the Islamic extremists over whom they froth at the mouth - I think it's more important than ever to take notice of this great spokesman for tolerance and equality. This week's program, then, is interspersed with a collection of speeches - two from Dr. King, the one given by Bobby Kennedy after King's assassination, and one given by Rev. Jesse Jackson several years later at the Wattstax concert.

1. Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have a Dream - Washington DC 8/28/63 (6:11)
2. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - Wake Up Everybody (7:32)
3. Sly & the Family Stone - Everyday People (2:22)
4. The Doobie Brothers - Takin' It To The Streets (3:51)
5. James Brown - Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud) (3:00)
6. Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up (8:54)
7. Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s - Damn Right I Am Somebody (6:26)
8. Martin Luther King Jr. - We Shall Overcome (3:42)
9. Donny Hathaway - Someday We'll All Be Free [#] (5:29)
10. Mavis Staples - We Shall Not Be Moved [Live] (7:46)
11. Aretha Franklin - People Get Ready (3:44)
12. The Blind Boys of Alabama - Many Rivers to Cross (3:56)
13. The Rance Allen Group - Up Above My Head (4:01)
14. The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There (4:46)
15. The Blind Boys of Alabama - You and Your Folks/23rd Psalm (5:41)
16. Robert F. Kennedy - The Death of Martin Luther King, Jr. - 4/4/1968 (5:22)
17. Tom Clay - What the World Needs Now/Abraham, Martin and John (6:20)
18. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On [Original Detroit Mix] (4:07)
19. Gil Scott-Heron - Winter In America (6:08)
20. The Lost Generation - This Is the Lost Generation (3:34)
21. The Temptations - Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today) (4:04)
22. Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam [Live] (4:57)
23. Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street (3:48)
24. Edwin Starr - Stop the War Now (3:44)
25. Bill Withers - I Can't Write Left Handed (6:43)
26. Gil Scott-Heron - No Knock (2:10)
27. Isaac Hayes - Soulsville (4:37)
28. Curtis Mayfield - No Thing on Me (Cocaine Song) (4:57)
29. Buju Banton - Untold Stories (4:34)
30. Rev. Jesse Jackson - Introduction (5:50)
31. Willie Hutch - Brother's Gonna Work It Out (4:47)
32. Parliament - Chocolate City (5:37)
33. Mavis Staples - Eyes on the Prize [Live] (5:27)
34. The Blind Boys of Alabama - Free at Last (3:32)
35. Donny Hathaway - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother [#] (7:48)
36. Otis Redding - Change Gonna Come [Stereo] (4:20)
37. Curtis Mayfield - I Plan to Stay a Believer (3:15)
(soul 24)