On this day commemorating the life of Rev. Martin Luther King, I reflect on his dream of a better America, where the country would be “…true to what you said on paper in the Constitution…honoring the Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press. All assuring the Constitutional right to protest for what is right!”^[1] His words ring true for us today in so many ways. “When people get caught up with that which is right and are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping the outcome short of victory.”^[2]  In the depths of the civil rights movement in 1962, he described the days of challenge to make America a better nation. His words and his passion for justice roused the conscience of our nation, and the world because he spoke to what is universally recognized. We are more alike as humans than different in race, religion, culture or even political persuasion. 

            Rev. Martin Luther King lifted up  the need for strengthening the moral fiber of society to recognize and act on the racial injustice and  poverty as a policy choice and war as an instrument of oppression. 

            There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific      and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have          become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea             like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.^[3]   

---

^[1] Martin Luther King  speech to the Memphis Refuse Workers. April 3, 1968. https://www.npr.org/2024/02/07/1228320048/black-history-mlk-speeches-martin-luther-king

^[2] ibid

^[3] Martin Luther King. Nobel Prize Lecture. Netherlands. December 11, 1964.  https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/lecture/

See the full essay here: