MLK Memorial Quotes: 14 Passages Adorn Inscription Wall

Today marks the dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington DC. The centerpiece of the Memorial is a 30 foot tall sculpture of the civil-rights activist and preacher by Chinese artist Lei Yixin. However, the element of the memorial which "truly captures Dr. King's legacy" is an Inscription Wall featuring fourteen of the icon's most powerful quotations. The selection of quotes was selected by a specially appointed panel and includes selections from sermons and speeches delivered throughout King's career. The selections intentionally omit King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech in order to highlight some of his lesser known words.

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• "We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

• "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

• "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

• "Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."

• "I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as a moral example of the world."

• "If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."

• "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

• "I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits."

• "It is not enough to say, 'We must not wage war.' It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace."

• "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

• "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 determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

• "We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience."

• "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."

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Comments

[raker]

03:25 PM on 10/16/2011

The monument looks ugly and overblown, like most of the monuments on the Mall. Too bad.

[jalapeno]

11:24 AM on 10/16/2011

Why is the video from Fox News???? Scary!!!!

[balmora]

02:18 AM on 09/02/2011

Some people claim that Martin Luther King Jr. was not a Communist, even though he did everything possible to promote the Communist's agenda. That's like saying that Hitler was not a murderer because he didn't actually do the killing. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Communist! Martin Luther King was affiliated with 60 Communist Fronts. He openly incited violence under the banner of "nonviolence." The life story of Martin Luther King is shocking and disgraceful from beginning to end. He was born with the name Michael King on Jan. 15, 1929. In 1935 his preacher father, "Daddy" King, decided to name himself after the great Protestant reformer Martin Luther. He announced to his congregation that henceforth he was to be called Martin Luther King and his son Martin Luther King, Jr. "Daddy" King never bothered to have this act legalized in court. Thus, his son's real name is Michael King!

[Jamal Alexander]

03:17 PM on 10/16/2011

Where is your proof? King was always accused of being a communist, with little evidence to back it up.

[Abnormal Wrench]

05:24 PM on 10/16/2011

He was against slavery, so clearly he wasn't christian.

At least, that was the argument from the southern religious people at the time.

[Lucy0808]

01:27 AM on 10/17/2011

Why are you so angry? You are busting a lid here and I don't understand why.

The truth is Martin Luther King, Jr., did good works. He was more than the words that inspired. The actions he took for civil rights and protesting the wars were good works. Why are you focused on names? It doesn't make any sense. Ultra-conservatives always see weird mythological creatures that are never there. The boogey man. The communist spirits that never go away. It is so amazingly dull and predicatable.

[RavenRaving]

06:31 AM on 09/01/2011

I love the selection of quotes. They give a more rounded picture of the man and his range of causes than the constant repetition of his civil rights work would lead one to believe. What I don't like is this carving. Look at the crease in the pants and the suit jacket by the wrist, and even the buttons. They are square and stiff, his arms are crossed across his chest in an un-welcoming posture. For a man as warm yet powerful as Martin Luther King Jr was, this statue is an awful representation. It looks like somebody said 'how big a monument can we get, with a carving, for this sum of money?' and that's what they got.

[Mayoyo]

08:32 PM on 08/28/2011

Massive?...ooook! Fox...

[A Dub]

06:19 PM on 08/28/2011

Great Man, Great Monument!