Every year around this time, I am forced to reflect upon The Honorable Elijah Muhammad�s description of how the folks in power (then and now) deal with popular figures who seem to be growing threats to those in power. The pattern, as he described it, was to kill the adversary, then establish a national holiday in his honor, to appease those who loved and followed him. At the time, he was speaking of Doctor Martin Luther King, who was getting national and international press coverage in steadily increasing doses. Little did I know that I was to be a fairly close observer of the implementation of this pattern.

Some time later, Messenger Muhammad moved me from Los Angeles to Atlanta, to serve as Minister of the Southern Region. I immediately became close friends with members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee � abbreviated SNCC, and pronounced "Snick". I spent a good deal of time at their headquarters, and they regularly attended the Mosque.

Soon after my arrival in Atlanta, Dr. King was scheduled to speak at a local Baptist Church � I believe the name was MOUNT MORIAH. At any rate it was (and is) right off the Atlanta University campus. I made several trips to SNCC headquarters, each time bringing a carload of the members to the church. I don�t believe Dr. King recognized me, although we had met a couple of times in Los Angeles, but he knew most of the SNCC members. His lecture that night was flavored with dashes of "Black Nationalism". In fact, it struck me as the boldest speech I had ever heard the Good Reverend deliver. One statement, in particular, made my day. Months later, during one of my weekly radio broadcasts, I quoted my favorite line from that particular speech of Dr. King. Immediately, the telephone began to figuratively jump off the hook. What most of the callers had in common was: (1) they were present at the speech; (2) they remembered hearing the same thing I had just quoted; (3) they had bought a copy of the record; and (4) there was no trace of the statement on the record.

I promised them I would check it out, and I did. Through my connections at SCLC, I was able to seclude myself there at the Headquarters and listen to the master tape from which the discs were produced. Sure enough, it was as if the statement in question had never been uttered. Chalk up one for modern electronics! On my next broadcast, I did not tell my audience how I knew, but I did inform them that the evidence had been destroyed, but the truth was still standing.

I am going to repeat the words which were expunged from that disc, but which many of us know that Doctor King declared that night:

"YOU HAVE ALL HEARD ME SAY THAT I HAVE A DREAM. WELL, I WOKE UP AND FOUND THAT MY DREAM WAS A NIGHTMARE!"