Martin Luther King Jr. on Freedom & Oppressed

MLK on Freedom & Oppressed

• ” If the cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. Because the goal of America is freedom, abused and scorned tho’ we may be, our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny. “― Martin Luther King Jr.
• ” Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. “― Martin Luther King Jr.
• ” In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining… We demand this fraud be stopped. “― Martin Luther King Jr.
• ” In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. “― Martin Luther King Jr.
• ” 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. “― Martin Luther King Jr.
• ” If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive. “― Martin Luther King Jr.
• ” Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself. “― Martin Luther King Jr.
• ” I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law. “― Martin Luther King Jr.
• ” When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’ “― Martin Luther King Jr.
• “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
• “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.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
• “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.”  ― Martin Luther King Jr.