"How many know that Dr. King, with a phraseology reminiscent of the biblical prophets, also said, “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism?” Or, “There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’”... The “I Have a Dream Speech” speech reads like an activists’ wake up alarm. Tens of thousands of grassroots activists worked hard to win this president’s reelection. With Obama’s inauguration in a few weeks, can we revitalize the profound calling in Kings’ speech to really tackle the struggles we face today — a polarized Congress, a Tea Party-infused Republican right, high unemployment, a regressive attack on women’s rights to our own bodies, a decades-long epidemic of gun violence in our inner cities, a fragmented healthcare system? In the second term of our first black presidency, can we not just honor Dr. King’s words as history, but infect ourselves with his passion for creating the change we believe in? Along with losing weight and exercising more, make a political New Year’s resolution this year. But first, for inspiration and vision, read Dr. King’s speech."
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Activists from the United StatesSpiritual teachersCivil rights activistsAnti-apartheid activistsAnti-racism activists
Original Language: English
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Sources
Ellen Freudenheim, "Dr. King’s ‘I Have a Dream Speech’ Turns 50 in 2013; Obama Inauguration on MLK Day", Huffington Post (2 January 2013)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
pastor, preacher, civil rights advocate
1929 – 1968 · United States
523 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Martin Luther King Jr. →
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