"A time comes when
silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands
of inner truth, men [sic] do not easily assume the
task of opposing their government's policy,
especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit
move without great difficulty against all the apathy
of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in
the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at
hand seem as perplexing as they often do in the case
of dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of
being mesmerized by uncertainty. But we must move
on."
"Some
of us who have already begun to break the silence of
the night have found that the calling to speak is
often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must
speak with all the humility that is appropriate to
our limited vision, but we must speak. For we are
deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that
seems so close around us."
"We
are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless,
for the victims of our nation, for those it calls
"enemy", for no document from human hands
can make these humans any less our brothers. I think
of them, too, because it is clear to me that there
will be no meaningful solution until some attempt is
made to know them and hear their broken cries."
"I
am convinced that if we are to get on the right side
of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo
a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin
the shift from a thing-oriented society to a
person-oriented society. When machines and computers,
profit motives and property rights, are considered
more important than people, the giant triplets of
racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are
incapable of being conquered."
"A
true revolution of values will lay hand on the world
order and say of war, "This way of settling
differences is not just." A nation that
continues year and year to spend more money on
military defense than on programs of social uplift is
approaching spiritual death."
"America,
the richest and most powerful nation in the world,
can well lead the way in this revolution of values.
There is nothing except a tragic death wish to
prevent us from reordering our priorities over the
pursuit of war."
"This
call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly
concern beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation
is in reality a call for an all-embracing and
unconditional love for all mankind. We can no longer
afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the
altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made
turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History
is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and
individuals that pursed this self-defeating path of
hate."
"We
still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or
violent coannihilation. We must move past indecision
to action. If we do not act, we shall surely be
dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors
of time reserved for those who posses power without
compassion, might without morality, and strength
without sight."
"Now
let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves in the
long and bitter, but beautiful struggle for a new
world. If we will but make the right choice, we will
be able to speed up the day, all over America and all
over the world, when justice will roll down like
waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."
"May
our country, on the brink of war, take to heart the
final refrain of "America, the Beautiful":
"America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in
law."
The words of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered at Riverside
Church, New York City, April 4th, 1967
