Why I love Dr King

Today, Monday 16 January is a Federal holiday in honor of Rev. Dr Martin Luther Jnr in the United States. He was born on 15 January 1929 and was assassinated on 4th April 1968. Dr. King is remembered as a civil rights leader who preached non-violence in the struggle of the black race to free itself from racial discrimination. He did not only  lead the civil rights movement, he also championed the course of the poor and strenuously spoke against the war in Vietnam. 

 

Dr King was a great orator and I am personally enamored of his oratory prowess among other leadership and personal qualities. I barely go a week without listening to one of his speeches. Some of my favorites are.

 

I have a Dream is possibly the most popular speech by Dr King. He delivered it to over 250,000 crowd at the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC in 1963. He started the speech by referencing the emancipation proclamation that was signed by President Abraham Lincoln to free the Negro from slavery. In the speech, King called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism. “…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.” This speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century. The speech is also described as having “a strong claim to be the greatest in the English language of all time.” It is often said the I have a dream speech is one of the most iconic speeches in American history.

 

I have been to the mountaintop is the last speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jnr. He was assassinated the following day in his hotel in Memphis Tennessee in 1963. In the speech he tasked America to live up to the true meaning of its creed. Calling the injunction that was placed on the civil rights movement “illegal”, he challenged that if he was living in a totalitarian state he would have understood the “illegal” injunction. But in America “somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly, somewhere I read of the freedom speech, somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for our rights” He therefore called for boycotts and economic actions that will give the Negro a bargaining chip. Toward the end of the speech he discussed the possibility of his untimely death. He said while he was on the mountaintop that God took him, he could see the promised land. But then “I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.” He was killed a day after. 

 

Why I am opposed to the war in Vietnam is one of my most listened to speeches of his. It was delivered on April 30 1967. I call it the greatest of all his speeches. This speech is widely believed to have signed his death warrant given the fact that it was heavily criticised by many. He made a strong case in this speech by condemning America involvement in the war in Vietnam. The war as he called it was “unjust, evil and futile war” against the poor people of Vietnam. This speech later won a Grammy award as spoken word album of the year in 1971.

 

The Nobel Peace Prize lecture in Oslo Norway 1964. Dr King in his Nobel Peace lecture named “the three great evils that confronted mankind” namely, Racial injustice, Poverty and War. He emphasized the need for mankind to square his scientific achievements with his moral achievements to balance the human scale for peaceful coexistence. He further underscored the destructive powers of arms race and that it can lead inexorably to a Nuclear Armageddon. “It is either a peaceful coexistence or nuclear co-annihilation” 

 

Dr King was a man of great substance and his values and commitments are as relevant today as it was during that time.