Happy Martin Luther King Day! What's your favorite speech?

[Scott]

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

What's your favorite speech or quote from Martin Luther King?


Here is one particularly relevant to current events in the USA:

[Note, the video cuts from the quote all the way to the iconic end of the speech.]

Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let any dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.

[From "I've Been to the Mountaintop". View all Dr. King's speeches: on Kindle | in paperback | on Bookshelves

Here is one that helps defy the so-called santaclausification of Martin Luther King:

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal."

[From "Letter from a Birmingham Jail". View all Dr. King's speeches: on Kindle | in paperback | on Bookshelves

Finally, here is probably my favorite quote from Martin Luther King:

Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That’s the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

[From "Loving Your Enemies". View all Dr. King's speeches: on Kindle | in paperback | on Bookshelves

What do you think? What are your favorite Martin Luther King speeches or quotes?

[gali]

Happy Martin Luther King Day!


My favorites:

* "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

* "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

* In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

[zeldas_lullaby]

I had a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

[Scott]

Happy MLK Day 2016!

Here is another speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to which I often listen.