Photo by Time Life
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear,” said Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister and activist.
On this day, we remember Dr. King for leading the way in the civil rights movement with his powerful speeches and peaceful protests. All Hastings public schools have this day off in remembrance of MLK Jr.
King aimed to combat racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. He is best known for his pivotal role in the civil rights movement, using nonviolent measures based on his Christian beliefs and inspiration from the peaceful activist, Mahatma Gandhi.
King led a movement that fought for equality, humanity, and justice. King saw America needed a leader in racial justice and he led the way to a brighter future using his powerful voice and his unique ability to love.
We thank Dr. King for showing every man, woman, and child, that love will outweigh the hate, that your voice matters and can literally change the world, and to never stop dreaming.
Thank you, Dr. King for your many books and articles, numerous speeches, various boycotts and peaceful demonstrations.
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
Thank you for being a part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for leading the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration in the United States by leading the Montgomery bus boycott of 382 days.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Thank you for not giving up while you were jailed, bombed, threatened, and abused.
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
Thank you for traveling over six million miles and speaking over 2,500 times over the course of 11 years, including your noteworthy “I Have A Dream” speech, given on August 28, 1963.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Thank you for speaking out whenever you saw injustice.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
And finally, thank you, Dr. King, for creating a legacy to be remembered. A legacy we still must improve upon today. A legacy built on hope, perseverance, and equality for all.
“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
We are the post-civil rights generation who have not only the obligation, but the opportunity to continue to live out Dr. King’s dream: to be freedom fighters, to look hate in the eye, and to most importantly, love blindly, until we are all able to say, “Thank God Almighty, we are free at last. We are free at last.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Sources: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html, https://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086
