I've Been to the Mountaintop

"I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech photo courtesy media.tumblr.com.

It was on this day in 1968 that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.  What a loss to humanity to say goodbye to a man who did so much for the Civil Rights Movement; who worked so tirelessly and ceaselessly to combat racism,; who battled injustice in such a peaceful manner.

Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis that week to support the sanitation workers who were on strike.  A protest was planned for the following day and Dr. King delivered a brilliant speech to rally the crowd.  Here are excerpts from that prophetic speech he delivered the day before he died.

Martin Luther, what age would you like to live in?  

I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek...across the Red Sea and through the wilderness...

I would take my mind to Mount Olympus.   And I would see Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates...assembled around the Parthenon...

I would go on to the heyday of the Roman Empire...

I would come up to the day of the Renaissance...and what it did for the cultural life of man...

I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked 95 theses to the door of the church at Wittenburg...

I would watch Abraham Lincoln singing the Emancipation Proclamation...

...the early thirties and see a man grappling with the bankruptcy of his nation...

If you would allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th Century I would be happy.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me...and he's anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor.

When people get caught up in that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

Be concerned about your brother.  You may not be on strike.  But either we go up together or we go down together.  Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.

As a people we will get to the Promised Land.  And so I'm happy tonight.  I'm not worried about anything.  I'm not fearing any man.  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Martin Luther was not afraid.  He spoke out against injustice.  And he paid with his life.  But his sacrifice will never be forgotten.  And his cause continues.  Thank you, Dr. King!

Photo courtesy mlk.jpg.