[.imgcaption] [.smalltext] Photograph by Dick DeMarsico from Wikimedia Commons (public domain) [.smalltext] [.imgcaption]

[.article__subhead][.jump-title] The Handwriting on the Wall[.jump-title][.article__subhead]

We have come here
[.poemindent] because we share a common concern
[.poemindent] [.poemindentmore] for the moral health of our nation.
[.poemindentmore] We have come because our eyes
[.poemindent] have seen through the superficial
[.poemindent] [.poemindentmore] glory and glitter of our society
[.poemindentmore] [.poemindent] and observed the coming of judgment.
[.poemindent] Like the prophet of old, we have read the handwriting on the wall.
We have seen our nation weighed in the balance of history
[.poemindent] and found wanting…. [.poemindent]

Cowardice asks the question, is it safe;
expediency asks the question, is it politic;
vanity asks the question, is it popular;
but conscience asks the question, is it right?

And on some positions, it is necessary
[.poemindent] for the moral individual to take a stand
[.poemindent] that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
[.poemindent] but he must do it because it is right. [.poemindent]

[.smalltext] Source: Martin Luther King Jr., “The Three Evils of Society,” speech at the National Conference on New Politics in Chicago, August 31, 1967. [.smalltext]

[.imgcaption] [.smalltext] Photograph Tony Spina / The Detroit Free Press [.smalltext] [.imgcaption]

[.article__subhead][.jump-title] Hard Work, Not Complacency[.jump-title][.article__subhead]

It may well be that we will have to repent
[.poemindent] in this generation
[.poemindent] not merely for the vitriolic words
[.poemindent] and the violent actions of the bad people,
[.poemindent] but for the appalling silence
[.poemindent] and indifference of the good people
[.poemindent] [.poemindentmore] who sit around and say wait on time…. [.poemindentmore]

Social progress never rolls in
[.poemindent] on the wheels of inevitability.
[.poemindent] It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work
[.poemindent] of dedicated individuals.
[.poemindent] And without this hard work
[.poemindent] time itself becomes an ally
[.poemindent] [.poemindentmore] of the primitive forces of social stagnation. [.poemindentmore]

And so we must help time. We must realize
[.poemindent] that the time is always right
[.poemindent] [.poemindentmore] to do right. [.poemindentmore]

[.smalltext] Source: Martin Luther King Jr., “The Other America,” speech at Stanford University, April 14, 1967. [.smalltext]

[.imgcaption] [.smalltext] Photograph by Yoichi Okamoto, Wikimedia Commons (public domain) [.smalltext] [.imgcaption]

[.article__subhead][.jump-title] Why I Oppose War[.jump-title][.article__subhead]

I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why
[.poemindent] I am speaking against the war.
[.poemindent] Could it be that they do not know
[.poemindent] that the Good News was meant for all men –
[.poemindent] [.poemindentmore] for communist and capitalist,
[.poemindentmore] [.poemindentmore] for their children and ours,
[.poemindentmore] [.poemindentmore] for black and for white,
[.poemindentmore] [.poemindentmore] for revolutionary and conservative?
[.poemindentmore] Have they forgotten that my ministry is in obedience to the one
[.poemindent] who loved his enemies so fully
[.poemindent] [.poemindentmore] that he died for them?… [.poemindentmore]

I must be true to my conviction that I share with all men
[.poemindent] the calling to be a son of the living God.
[.poemindent] Beyond the calling of race or nation or creed
[.poemindent] is this vocation of sonship and brotherhood…. [.poemindent]

We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless,
[.poemindent] for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy,
[.poemindent] for no document from human hands
[.poemindent] can make these humans any less our brothers. [.poemindent]

[.smalltext] Source: Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” speech at Riverside Church in New York City, April 4, 1967. [.smalltext]

[.imgcaption] [.smalltext] Photograph by Matt Herron / AP Images [.smalltext] [.imgcaption]

[.article__subhead][.jump-title] Now Is the Time[.jump-title][.article__subhead]

We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today.
We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.

In this unfolding conundrum of life and history
[.poemindent] there is such a thing as being too late….
[.poemindent] There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records
[.poemindent] our vigilance or our neglect…. [.poemindent]

Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves
[.poemindent] to the long and bitter – but beautiful – struggle for a new world.
[.poemindent] This is the calling of the sons of God,
[.poemindent] and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. [.poemindent]

Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them
[.poemindent] the struggle is too hard?
[.poemindent] Will our message be that the forces of American life
[.poemindent] militate against their arrival as full men,
[.poemindent] [.poemindentmore] and we send our deepest regrets?
[.poemindentmore] Or will there be another message,
[.poemindent] of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings,
[.poemindent] [.poemindentmore] of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? [.poemindentmore]

[.smalltext] Source: Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” speech at Riverside Church in New York City, April 4, 1967. [.smalltext]