An American Immortal

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the greatest man America ever produced.  You can disagree with that if you like, but I see it that way.  It's purely subjective, but he's at the top of my list of heroes, and one of the reasons is the speech he gave at NYC's Riverside Church on April 04, 1967, a year to the day before he was assassinated.

Most people have neither heard nor read this speech, which was denounced from every quarter at the time it was given.  King told the truth about what was going on in America in 1967, and most people simply could not stomach it.  Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence is strong stuff indeed, but if you love America and you understand that the way to improve her is to criticize her constructively, then you'll find much to like in King's Beyond Vietnam speech.  Click here to read the full test at American Rhetoric.  You can also listen to the speech there.


Some excerpts that show King's clarity of thought and innate greatness, ideas as valid today as when first spoken:

"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin...we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

"A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies."

"We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood -- it ebbs."

There is much more in the speech itself.  Go read it, take its wisdom into your mind and ruminate on it.