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Martin Luther King Jr.’s Quotes and Meanings: Inspiration to Keep Going
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Excerpt of “We Shall Overcome” from Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution” March 31, 1968:
“Let me close by saying that we have difficult days ahead in the struggle for justice and peace, but I will not yield to a politic of despair. I’m going to maintain hope as we come to Washington in this campaign. The cards are stacked against us.
This time we will really confront a Goliath. God grant that we will be that David of truth set out against the Goliath of injustice, the Goliath of neglect, the Goliath of refusing to deal with the problems, and go on with the determination to make America the truly great America that it is called to be.
I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be as a people, our destiny is tied up in the destiny of America.
Before the Pilgrim fathers landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. Before the beautiful words of the “Star Spangled Banner” were written, we were here.
For more than two centuries our forebearers labored here without wages. They made cotton king, and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of the most humiliating and oppressive conditions.
And yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to grow and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery couldn’t stop us, the opposition that we now face will surely fail.
We’re going to win our freedom because both the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of the almighty God are embodied in our echoing demands. And so, however dark it is, however deep the angry feelings are, and however violent explosions are, I can still sing “We Shall Overcome.”
We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
We shall overcome because Carlyle is right—”No lie can live forever.”
We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right—”Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again.”
We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right—as we were singing earlier today,
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne.
Yet that scaffold sways the future.
And behind the dim unknown stands God,
Within the shadow keeping watch above his own.
With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair the stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”
Verification: Delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968. Congressional Record, 9 April 1968, By Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Additional information and related articles and videos you may be interested in:
Martin Luther King Jr. speech delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington D.C. on March 31, 1968 just days before he was shot and killed, rings true more than ever.
Today, adding to the list of injustices perpetuated in American society, we now have misinformation and increasing attempts to rewrite history and whitewash the true human cost of slavery.
MLK inspires us to keep going, tell the truth and fight for justice. It’s hope – regardless of the times we live in, that motivates us to work toward a better county, a better world, and a better tomorrow.
Link to read entire speech is provided below, as well as a video with reading and song, “We shall overcome.”
Martin Luther King Jr. full length speech:
Seemeonline.com, Martin Luther King Jr., March 31, 1968, “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.”
We Shall Overcome, song with words:
YouTube, Divine Missionaries, January 14, 2014, Video – Martin Luther King Jr. “We Shall Overcome.”
Related article:
Helen’s Place LLC, August 31, 2023, “Anti Victim Mentality When Slavery Reined.”
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