Martin Luther King, Jr, was one of the greatest Americans who ever lived. Every man, woman and child in this nation owes him a great debt of gratitude.
He worked to end segregation, lynching and other crimes against humanity that were committed against black people. That took courage.
He did this through a Christian, distinctly American paradigm. That took greatness.
I’ve read that he modeled his non-violent approach on the revolutionary work of Mahatma Gandhi, who famously said, I admire Christ, I do not admire your Christians, your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
What Martin Luther King, Jr did was turn that on its head and actually put action to words where the Gospels were concerned. Whatever debt he owed to Mahatma Gandhi in terms of tactical planning, his words were pure Christian.
Martin Luther King, Jr was a man of action built on faith. Every speech of his that I have heard or read was a living explication of the Sermon on the Mount.
He linked the profound dignity of every human being before the law to the simple fact that we are, every single on of us, created in the Image and Likeness of God. To defile another human being is, in that way, to defile God Himself.
We possess what Jefferson called “unalienable rights” which are not dependent on laws or treaties. They are inborn in us as our natural right as children of the Living God.
Martin Luther King, Jr, also recognized that racism and oppression go far deeper in our society than Jim Crow laws. The America we know practices a new racism that is based on money and that extends its tentacles of destruction and oppression into the lives of every working-class American. Everything Martin Luther King, Jr said about poor people now applies to poor white people, and poor Hispanic people, as well.his country. It’s being waged by the uber wealthy against all the rest of us.
Here are a few of Martin Luther Kings speeches about economics and human dignity. They are just as important today as they were when he said them.
Radical Revolution of Values
Economic Injustice; the Last Speech He Gave
The Other America Speech
Income Inequality
Poverty in America
MLK on Poverty in America
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