Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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When asked who the greatest American leader of the 20th century is, my husband, Reverend Moon, replied, ‘Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’ At a time when many oppressed people wanted to return hate for hate, Dr. King said, ‘We must return love for hate.’ — True Mother (Cheon Il Guk and Our Mission, 2018)
This January 16 we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring his legacy of advancing the liberties of African-Americans through nonviolence and civil obedience. One of the most prolific speakers of our time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the most visible leader of the Civil Rights Movement in America in the 1950s and 60s.
In True Mother’s anthology, she shares about True Father’s deep respect for Dr. King and his vast impact on the world. A great peacemaker, Dr. King promoted unity among all people and Constitutional justice. Dr. King was a Baptist minister, born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, whose Christian beliefs were the hallmark of his activism, leading numerous marches for African-Americans’ right to vote, desegregation, and labor rights, among other basic civil rights.
Before Dr. King’s assassination in 1968, he helped organize the 1963 March on Washington. He gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, weaving in references to the country’s Founding Fathers and the Bible before a crowd of some 250,000 people.
As we celebrate Dr. King’s indelible mark on American history, let us heed his great wisdom and live each day with peace and love in our hearts.
Below is an excerpt of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech delivered on August 28, 1963.
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. (My Lord)...
Continue to work with the faith (Hmm) that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi (Yeah), go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities (Yes), knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. (Yes) Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. (My Lord).
I say to you today, my friends [applause], so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow (Uh-huh), I still have a dream. (Yes) It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. (Yes) I have a dream (Mhm) that one day (Yes) this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed (Hah): ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ ... This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children (Yes, Yeah) will be able to sing with new meaning: ‘My country, ‘tis of thee (Yeah, Yes), sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. (Oh yes) Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride (Yeah), from every mountainside, let freedom ring!...
And when this happens [applause] (Let it ring, Let it ring), and when we allow freedom ring (Let it ring), when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city (Yes Lord), we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children (Yeah), black men (Yeah) and white men (Yeah), Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics (Yes), will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! (Yes) Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’ [enthusiastic applause]”
You can listen to the audio and read the transcript of Dr. King’s full “I Have a Dream” speech here.