5 Historic videos I found fascinating on Youtube
5 Timeless Videos you should not miss
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One time as a procrastinator, one time as a researcher, I found following videos on youtube, which also may have been a turning point, on their own context.
5. Bandaranayake’s interview with BBC
S.W.R.D Bandaranayake gave an interview to BBC while he was the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. In this video, he justifies his idea of bringing forward a ‘Sinhalese Only’ Act, making Sinhala the only official national language.
It is believed by some historians that such enactment by Bandaranayake, was the root cause for 30-year long war.
4. Marlon Brando rejecting Oscars!
Mighty Marlon Brando won the academy award for Best Actor in 1973 for his performance in the movie, The God Father, however, Brando didn’t attend Oscar Ceremony, instead, Sacheen Littlefeather went to the stage on the stage, and spoke on behalf of Brando.
Hello. My name is Sacheen Littlefeather. I’m Apache and I am president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee. I’m representing Marlon Brando this evening, and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech which I cannot share with you presently, because of time, but I will be glad to share with the press afterwards, that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award
Academy Awards is considered to be the biggest honour an actor could get, and yet Marlon not only refused it but also brought a cause to refuse it. From one hand this attempt brought the eye of the world towards Sacheen and to her community, while from the other hand the same attempt was mocked and criticized.
3. Bravery of Ranathunga
Muttiah Muralitharan is considered to be the best Test Match Bowler, who achieved a world record by taking 800 Wickets from just 133 test matches.
However, Muralitharan had a steep path towards his success. During early of his career, he was accused of ‘Chucking’ and tested, and later got cleared. However, few cricket umpires didn't care much about Muralitharan’s clearance from the tests, and one of them is Australian umpire Ross Emerson
Emerson, during his debut ODI between Sri Lanka & West Indies in 1996, called no-ball few times, to Muralitharan, following the same, years after in 1999, during a match between Sri Lanka & England, called no-balls again for chucking.
During this match, Ranathunga, as the captain of Sri Lankan team stepped up and argued with the Umpires and following that withdrew the entire Sri Lankan team out of the ground.
Ranatunga's bravery to Safeguard Muralitharan is considered to be the reason who Muralitharan is today. Following the match, one party went on to take 800 wickets and the other party perished after umpiring for 10 ODIs
Bonus: Watch Darrel Hair calling Muralitharan for throwing for the first time
2. President Roosevelt of the United States declaring war against The Emperor of Japan.
A day after the massive attack on Pearl Harbour, the United States decides to declare war. Then President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the Congress with infamous ‘Infamy Speech’
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
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No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
Following the declaration of war, the United States carried out multiple attacks against Japan, including first and ever nuclear attacks on Hiroshima & Nagasaki, which followed the United States to a victory. The same war not only made the United States victorious but also managed to start positioning themselves as the leader of the modern world.
Also, following the victory, Franklin Roosevelt ran for the president for the 3rd time and won the election and he was the only president to serve more than two terms in US history.
1. Robert Kenndey’s announcement of Martin Luther King Jr’s death
Robert Kennedy, senator of NY at that time heard the death of Martin Luther King while he was arriving at one of his Presidential Election Nomination campaign rallies, at Indiana.
When he first heard the shocking news, it is reported that he said, while putting his hands on his face, “Oh, God. When is this violence going to stop?”
The Indianapolis crowd of his campaign is believed to be ‘in the heart of Indianapolis’s African-American ghetto’, and also local policed urged him not to visit during such critical time stating that if a riot occurs they may fail to protect him. And most importantly this campaign was to occur just a few hours after the death of King, and the majority in the campaign didn’t have a clue about this.
Kenndey starts his speech with the following sentence;
I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.
Unlike most of the speeches, which were well prepared by prior to the campaigns by professionals, this particular speech is believed to be one of unprepared one, and words are of his own.
In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black — considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible — you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization — black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.
After the death of King, riots spread all over the United States, killing and injuring hundreds of people, but Indianapolis remained calm.
The speech is considered to be one of the greatest speeches delivered in the 20th Century
My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: “In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”
63 days after this speech, Robert F Kenndey was assassinated by a Palestinian boy after one of his campaigns.
Bonus: Following is a heart touching comment placed by a woman called
Kimberly Spurgeon about her live experience under the comments section of the above video.
I was a little girl (5-years-old) when Robert Kennedy came to Indiana. My father lifted me up on his shoulders so I could see. Even with the group of men (he was not yet at a mic), I picked him out. It was the first time in my young life that I used the word “handsome” to describe a man. About six weeks later my father was watching Kennedy’s funeral and called me over to see the flag-draped casket and asked me if I remembered that man we had just seen. He then told me he was dead. I had never encountered death (not even of a goldfish). I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Then he told me that someone had shot him on PURPOSE. The first time I had encountered the notion of murder. To this day, I have a hard time with that concept. Robert Kennedy — my initiation into the world of handsome men, death, and murder. May he rest in peace.
