MLK on Hope and Struggle

April 4 marks the 54th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. The night before, on April 3, King was invited to speak at Bishop Charles Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, as part of his support for a sanitation workers’ strike. It would be his last public address, now known as his “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech — a stirring testimony on hope and struggle.

To honor the anniversary and its power to galvanize us today, here’s an excerpt from that address, laid out as a poem:

All we say to America is, “Be true to what you said on paper.”
If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country,
maybe I could understand the denial
of certain basic First Amendment privileges,
because they hadn’t committed themselves to that over there.

But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly.
Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech.
Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press.
Somewhere I read that the greatness of America
is the right to protest for right. 
And so just as I say,
we aren’t going to let any injunction turn us around.
We are going on.

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Well, I don’t know what will happen now. 
We’ve got some difficult days ahead.
But it doesn’t matter with me now. 
Because I’ve been to the mountaintop.
And I don’t mind. Like anybody,
I would like to live a long life. 
Longevity has its place.
But I’m not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God’s will.
And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. 
And I’ve looked over.
And I’ve seen the promised land.
I may not get there with you.
But I want you to know tonight,
that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. 
And I’m happy, tonight.
I’m not worried about anything.
I’m not fearing any man.
Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord!

+ Martin Luther King, Jr.