![]() On our part we must pay our profound respects to the white Americans who cherish their democratic traditions over the ugly customs and privileges of generations and come forth boldly to join hands with us. President Johnson rightly praised the courage of the Negro for awakening the conscience of the nation. A president born in the South (Well) had the sensitivity to feel the will of the country, (Speak, sir) and in an address that will live in history as one of the most passionate pleas for human rights ever made by a president of our nation, he pledged the might of the federal government to cast off the centuries-old blight. Yes, sir) to turn the whole nation to a new course. ![]() The confrontation of good and evil compressed in the tiny community of Selma (Speak, speak) generated the massive power (Yes, sir. Speak) There never was a moment in American history (Yes, sir) more honorable and more inspiring than the pilgrimage of clergymen and laymen of every race and faith pouring into Selma to face danger (Yes) at the side of its embattled Negroes. If the worst in American life lurked in its dark streets, the best of American instincts arose passionately from across the nation to overcome it. Yet, Selma, Alabama, became a shining moment in the conscience of man. (Yes, sir) And again the brutality of a dying order shrieks across the land. Once more the method of nonviolent resistance (Yes) was unsheathed from its scabbard, and once again an entire community was mobilized to confront the adversary. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave Negroes some part of their rightful dignity, (Speak, sir) but without the vote it was dignity without strength. And from the wells of this democratic spirit, the nation finally forced Congress (Well) to write legislation (Yes, sir) in the hope that it would eradicate the stain of Birmingham. White America was profoundly aroused by Birmingham because it witnessed the whole community of Negroes facing terror and brutality with majestic scorn and heroic courage. But not until the colossus of segregation was challenged in Birmingham did the conscience of America begin to bleed. After Montgomery’s, heroic confrontations loomed up in Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, and elsewhere. Yet, strangely, the climactic conflicts always were fought and won on Alabama soil. Speak) that electrified the nation (Well) and the world. Negroes took it and carried it across the South in epic battles (Yes, sir. Well) Out of this struggle, more than bus segregation was won a new idea, more powerful than guns or clubs was born. Montgomery was the first city in the South in which the entire Negro community united and squarely faced its age-old oppressors. (Yes, sir) Just ten years ago, in this very city, a new philosophy was born of the Negro struggle. Now it is not an accident that one of the great marches of American history should terminate in Montgomery, Alabama. Talk) but all the world today knows that we are here and we are standing before the forces of power in the state of Alabama saying, “We ain’t goin’ let nobody turn us around.” (Yes, sir. And there were those who said that we would get here only over their dead bodies, (Well. ![]() All right) And in a real sense this afternoon, we can say that our feet are tired, (Yes, sir) but our souls are rested. And when she answered, “No,” the person said, “Well, aren’t you tired?” And with her ungrammatical profundity, she said, “My feets is tired, but my soul is rested.” (Yes, sir. But today as I stand before you and think back over that great march, I can say, as Sister Pollard said-a seventy-year-old Negro woman who lived in this community during the bus boycott-and one day, she was asked while walking if she didn’t want to ride. (Speak) Our bodies are tired and our feet are somewhat sore. Some of our faces are burned from the outpourings of the sweltering sun. We have walked on meandering highways and rested our bodies on rocky byways. We have walked through desolate valleys and across the trying hills. My dear and abiding friends, Ralph Abernathy, and to all of the distinguished Americans seated here on the rostrum, my friends and co-workers of the state of Alabama, and to all of the freedom-loving people who have assembled here this afternoon from all over our nation and from all over the world: Last Sunday, more than eight thousand of us started on a mighty walk from Selma, Alabama. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., “HOW LONG? NOT LONG” (25 MARCH 1965) ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |