Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. well deserves his own day and popular immortality in America. But what about MLK's famous dream? While much has been gained in US race relations, current social relations have again devolved into race riots, violence and conflagrations. And entire groups are allowed to cry havoc and release the dogs of war with impunity, "fighting racism".
Why? What has happened? As everyone knows, 'race' is now an exclusive liberal commodity, sold as the one universal truth. And like a humanist, godless theocracy, all must be examined and pass the test, bowing the knee -- or be banished. Race baiters, like Barack Obama and Joe Biden rode high as a woke generation demands blood for past sins and current accusations. But what would Martin say? The following are sourced MLKJr Quotes on various topics:
Not Judging Others by Their Race: "I have 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. I have a dream today." Speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963
Not Using Humanistic, Godless Standards to Judge Others: "We are here, we are here this evening because we're tired now. And I want to say that we are not here advocating violence. We have never done that. I want it to be known throughout Montgomery and throughout this nation that we are Christian people. We believe in the Christian religion. We believe in the teachings of Jesus. The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. That's all."Montgomery Bus Boycott speech, at Holt Street Baptist Church (5 December 1955)
Focusing on Change Through Love, Not Hate: "Whatever we do, we must keep God in the forefront. Let us be Christian in all of our actions. But I want to tell you this evening that it is not enough for us to talk about love, love is one of the pivotal points of the Christian face, faith. There is another side called justice. And justice is really love in calculation. Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love." -- Montgomery Bus Boycott speech, at Holt Street Baptist Church (5 December 1955)
Refusing to Take up Arms: "If you have weapons, take them home; if you do not have them, please do not seek to get them. We cannot solve this problem through retaliatoryviolence. We must meet violence with nonviolence. Remember the words of Jesus: "He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword." We must love our white brothers, no matter what they do to us. We must make them know that we love them. Jesus still cries out in words that echo across the centuries: "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; pray for them that despitefully use you." This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love. Remember, if I am stopped, this movement will not stop, because God is with the movement. Go home with this glowing faith and this radiant assurance." King's words after a bomb was thrown into his house in AL, 30 Jan 1956, in Stride Toward Freedom (1958)
Preeminence of Jesus Over All Others: "We believe firmly in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. I can see no conflict between our devotion to Jesus Christ and our present action. In fact, I can see a necessary relationship. If one is truly devoted to the religion of Jesus he will seek to rid the earth of social evils. The gospel is social as well as personal." Stride Toward Freedom (1958)
No Love Without Forgiveness: "First, we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. It is impossible even to begin the act of loving one's enemies without prior acceptance of the necessity, over and over again, of forgiving those who inflict evil and injury upon us. It is also necessary to realize that the forgiving act must always be initiated by the person who has been wronged, the victim of some great hurt, the recipient of some tortuous injustice, the absorber of some terrible act of oppression. The wrongdoer may request forgiveness. He may come to himself, and, like the prodigal son, move up with some dusty road, his heart palpitating with the desire for forgiveness. But only the injured neighbor, the loving father back home can really pour out the warm waters of forgiveness." Delivered at Dexter Ave Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL (25 Dec 1957).
Nonviolence is Key to Change: "We must meet hate with love. We must meet physical force with soul force. There is still a voice crying out through the vista of time, saying: "Love your enemies , bless them that curse you , pray for them that despitefully use you." Then, and only then, can you matriculate into the university of eternal life. That same voice cries out in terms lifted to cosmic proportions: "He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword." And history is replete with the bleached bones of nations that failed to follow this command. We must follow nonviolence and love." "The Birth of a New Nation," Sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, AL (7 April 1957)
Love Your Enemies: "I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and I think this was at the very center of Jesus' thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe." Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama (17 Nov 1957)
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We salute Dr. King in his lifelong battle to help reform America
Why Violence Creates Failure: "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. ... Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." 'Where Do We Go From Here?" as published in Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community? (1967)
Blacks Need Whites & Vice Versa: "In the final analysis the weakness of Black Power is its failure to see that the black man needs the white man and the white man needs the black man. However much we may try to romanticize the slogan, there is no separate black path to power and fulfillment that dies not intersect white paths, and there is no separate white path to power and fulfillment, short of social disaster, that does not share that power with black aspirations for freedom and human dignity. We are bound together in a single garment of destiny. The language, the cultural patterns, the music, the material prosperity, and even the food of America are an amalgam of black and white." -- Quoted inWhere Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
As seen above, according to Dr. King, the true freedom fighter doesn't hate race, but resists injustice. The most genuine freedom fighter in history was Jesus, who surrendered His full deity in order to come to earth. Christ fought to end mankind's slavery to sin and death. But we as a human brotherhood must not be motivated by hatred to violence, which undermines peace and eventually creates war. Our goal should be to fight for justice and to measure all other persons by their character, and by no other manner. For this we salute Dr. King in his lifelong battle to help reform America.
Kelly O’Connell is an author and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Galway, Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He has also been employed as a university Speech & Debate professor. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico.
