Knit to This
On the Quest for Peace and Justice, by Martin Luther King, Jr.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, he was 35. It was 1964, amid the turmoil of a national effort to pass civil rights legislation. He was in the absolute center of that effort.
King gave two addresses in Oslo, Norway: an acceptance speech on December 10, and a lecture the following day.
You can watch King deliver his acceptance speech up top. The blurry black-and-white video remains utterly riveting as King delivers his message in his measured, sonorous cadence.
It’s another thing entirely to read his own words and see once again the clarity of purpose, the simplicity of message, and the abiding hope that love can triumph over hate. You can read the acceptance speech here.
The lecture, “The Quest for Peace and Justice,” is here. It’s equally pure in its message that racism, poverty, and war are the three problems that must be overcome.
If ever there were a time to redouble efforts for peace and justice, this is it. I hope you’ll take a moment to hear this voice from the past.
I’ll leave you with this one quote from a lecture that is endlessly quotable. King writes: “When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response which is little more than emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.”
Thank You
Yes. This. Thank you.
Thank you for this, Ann.
I was alive when the dark days of lynching and segregation were the norm. It was a time before computers When television was the conduit for real news, when MLK wrote and marched, when he was killed.
Alive still to witness the storming of our Capitol Building, the dismantling of our democracy, the disregard for the well-being of citizens, and the dual weapons of cruelty and force used to control rather than govern.
MLK’s wisdom is needed now more than ever.
Thank you for this reminder that once, in my lifetime, real leaders lived among us.
I would simply echo “Linda C”‘s comment-At one time (fortunately) in our lifetime, “real leaders lived among us”.
Thank you Ann.
Thank you, Ann.
Thank you for sharing this. We need it more than ever.
Thank you for posting this.
If only those entrusted with our fragile democracy could hear and internalize this, we wouldn’t be in such dark days.