No Matter What

A TRIBUTE TO DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING .... I thought it would be appropriate on this day honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King to share quotes from some of his speeches. Although we have traveled a great distance on the road to "all men are created equal," we still have a long journey ahead. What is most troubling is the culture of racism within our churches and religious institutions.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 April 1963

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.-- Speech in St. Louis, Missouri, March 22, 1964

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land . . . So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man.-- "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, April 3, 1968 (the day before his assassination)

If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.-- Speech in Detroit, Michigan on June 23, 1963

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.-- Strength in Love (1963), Ch. 7

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" speech, August 28, 1963

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for the law.-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."-- "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963