Now that the U.S. government has decided to early release of the files on the life, ministry, leadership and activism of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, I have decided not to be silent. I knew Dr. King personally. Today there are begrudging attempts to besmirch the good name and character of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I will not be silent in the wake of the actions and statements of those who are now attempting to assassinate Dr. King’s legacy and historic transformative leadership of the Civil Rights Movement in America.

Cultural artists from Hollywood to entertainment stages across the nation also played a pivotal and constructive role in the evolution of the Civil Rights Movement in America in the 1960s. The GOOD News the memory of the important contributions of Theodore Bikel is today being highlighted for the support role that he performed to help the Civil Rights Movement to grow and to expand. Bikel was actor, singer and Jewish civil rights activist who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in Alabama.

The Civil Rights Movement in America in the 1960s was a coalitional movement between the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, organized labor, and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).The GOOD news is the name and leadership of James Farmer has been resurfaced by historians for his critical coalitional work during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

One of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s most trusted lawyers was Attorney Stanley Levison, a well-known and effective Jewish lawyer. The GOOD news is awareness of the critical role that that Attorney Levison played to Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement is today growing with interests from students and activists who are detailing the lessons learned from the freedom struggles in America.

The social determinants of public health is a well-known reality. Today there are more health scientists who attest to the fact that climate change and harmful environmental exposures also contribute to the degrading of public health in America. The GOOD News Dr. Sacoby Wilson is a professor at the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health at the University of Maryland.

One of the enduring and most strategic alliances in the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement was the solidarity between Blacks and Jews in America. We are doing a conclusive series on the national leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement who championed and promoted Black-Jewish solidarity in the struggle for freedom, justice and equality. The GOOD News is the living legacy of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is being celebrated as one of the major theological leaders and influencers of the Civil Rights Movement.

One of the chief architects and organizers of the transformative 1963 civil rights March on Washington, DC was Bayard Rustin. The GOOD news is the legacy of the leadership of Bayard Rustin is today receiving a more detailed focus from historians and other scholars.

When there is a collaboration between academic scholarship and grassroots activism, there is an increase in social change. That fact is true for the emerging national environmental and climate justice movement. The GOOD News is Dr. Beverly Wright, a distinguished professor at Dillard University in New Orleans, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.

As a result of the increase today in weather related disasters across America, there is a growing awareness and acknowledgement of the reality of the weather-related consequences climate change. We are doing series on some of the leaders of the climate change and climate justice movement in the United States.The GOOD News is Mustafa Santiago Ali has emerged on the national stage as an effective advocate the intersection of climate change and social justice in America.

Across the nation there are many rural areas that do not get much national media attention until some awful disaster happens. In order for the environmental and climate justice movement to be effective, more needs to be done to amplify what is happening in rural America with respect to climate change issues. The GOOD News is Catherine Coleman Flowers today is one of the leading experts on rural climate and environmental issues.