Read on Twitter
I’m currently reading this book, THE RADICAL KING, which anthologizes the writing of Martin Luther King Jr. It’s maybe one of the best things I’ve ever read, and it’s given me a lot of solace and hope in the past few weeks. I’m going to share some pieces and quotes from it here:
First, a quote from @CornelWest's introduction:
"Although much of America did not know the radical King – and too few know today – the FBI and US government did. They called him 'the most dangerous man in America.'"
"Although much of America did not know the radical King – and too few know today – the FBI and US government did. They called him 'the most dangerous man in America.'"
From "The Violence of Desperate Men":
"Ordinarily, a person leaving a courtroom with a conviction behind them would wear a somber face. But I left with a smile...[N]oncooperation with evil is just as much a moral duty as is cooperation with good." https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/publications/autobiography-martin-luther-king-jr-contents/chapter-8-violence-desperate
"Ordinarily, a person leaving a courtroom with a conviction behind them would wear a somber face. But I left with a smile...[N]oncooperation with evil is just as much a moral duty as is cooperation with good." https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/publications/autobiography-martin-luther-king-jr-contents/chapter-8-violence-desperate
From "Palm Sunday Sermon on Mohandas K. Gandhi":
"[T]he world doesn't like people like Gandhi...They don't like people like Christ. They don't like people like Abraham Lincoln. They kill them." https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/palm-sunday-sermon-mohandas-k-gandhi-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church
"[T]he world doesn't like people like Gandhi...They don't like people like Christ. They don't like people like Abraham Lincoln. They kill them." https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/palm-sunday-sermon-mohandas-k-gandhi-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church
From "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence":
"[T]rue pacifism is not nonresistance to evil, but nonviolence resistance to evil. Between the two positions, there is a world of difference." https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/pilgrimage-nonviolence
"[T]rue pacifism is not nonresistance to evil, but nonviolence resistance to evil. Between the two positions, there is a world of difference." https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/pilgrimage-nonviolence
From "Loving Your Enemies":
"[H]ate scars the soul and distorts the personality...Hate is just as injurous to the person who hates [as it is the person who is hated]. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity." https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/572778/a-gift-of-love-by-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/9780807093245/excerpt
"[H]ate scars the soul and distorts the personality...Hate is just as injurous to the person who hates [as it is the person who is hated]. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity." https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/572778/a-gift-of-love-by-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/9780807093245/excerpt
From "What Is Your Life's Blueprint?":
"Don't allow anybody to cause you to lose your self-respect to the point that you do not struggle for justice. However young you are...you must be involved in the struggle for freedom and justice." https://projects.seattletimes.com/mlk/words-blueprint.html
"Don't allow anybody to cause you to lose your self-respect to the point that you do not struggle for justice. However young you are...you must be involved in the struggle for freedom and justice." https://projects.seattletimes.com/mlk/words-blueprint.html
Another quote from @CornelWest's commentary:
"King and Mandela are the two towering public figures in the past fifty years in the world. Both have been Santa-Clausified – tamed, domesticated, sanitized, and sterilized...Yet both were radical and revolutionary."
"King and Mandela are the two towering public figures in the past fifty years in the world. Both have been Santa-Clausified – tamed, domesticated, sanitized, and sterilized...Yet both were radical and revolutionary."
From "The World House":
"[F]amine is wholly unnecessary in the modern world...We cannot complain of a lack of land, for there are 25 million square miles of tillable land on earth, of which we are using less than seven million."
https://www.yourhomeworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/edd/2018/10/mlk__world_house.pdf
"[F]amine is wholly unnecessary in the modern world...We cannot complain of a lack of land, for there are 25 million square miles of tillable land on earth, of which we are using less than seven million."
https://www.yourhomeworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/edd/2018/10/mlk__world_house.pdf
Another from "The World House":
"The life and destiny of Latin America are in the hands of United States corporations...there are almost no legitimate democracies alive in the whole continent."
https://www.yourhomeworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/edd/2018/10/mlk__world_house.pdf
"The life and destiny of Latin America are in the hands of United States corporations...there are almost no legitimate democracies alive in the whole continent."
https://www.yourhomeworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/edd/2018/10/mlk__world_house.pdf
One more from "The World House":
"One day the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be beaten and robbed as they make their journey through life...an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."
https://www.yourhomeworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/edd/2018/10/mlk__world_house.pdf
"One day the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be beaten and robbed as they make their journey through life...an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."
https://www.yourhomeworksolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/edd/2018/10/mlk__world_house.pdf
From "All The Great Religions Of The World":
"[I]f religion – and this includes all religions – would take a real stand against war and go all-out for peace and brotherhood, then we would be further along the way in making these into reality." https://books.google.com/books?id=oh3aCwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA97&ots=0e56l-Pf-r&dq=%22religion%20at%20its%20best%20has%20always%20sought%20to%20promote%20peace%20and%20good%20will%20among%20men%22&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q=%22religion%20at%20its%20best%20has%20always%20sought%20to%20promote%20peace%20and%20good%20will%20among%20men%22&f=false
"[I]f religion – and this includes all religions – would take a real stand against war and go all-out for peace and brotherhood, then we would be further along the way in making these into reality." https://books.google.com/books?id=oh3aCwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA97&ots=0e56l-Pf-r&dq=%22religion%20at%20its%20best%20has%20always%20sought%20to%20promote%20peace%20and%20good%20will%20among%20men%22&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q=%22religion%20at%20its%20best%20has%20always%20sought%20to%20promote%20peace%20and%20good%20will%20among%20men%22&f=false
From "My Jewish Brother!":
"I do not view [an anti-Semitic remark] as anti-Jewish. I see it as anti-man and anti-God...Today, we particularly need the Hebrew prophets because they taught us that to love God was to love justice." https://books.google.com/books?id=AnnqvOGfkr4C&pg=PT139&lpg=PT139&dq=%22one+of+the+leaders+of+a+fine+and+militant+civil+rights+group+had+made+an+anti-semitic+remark%22&source=bl&ots=AMXJ_l74iR&sig=ACfU3U2m1pFvvBRxDahpaTDgVUVkr8drVw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXyaixp9noAhXTKM0KHUmEDt8Q6AEwAHoECAMQKQ#v=onepage&q=%22one%20of%20the%20leaders%20of%20a%20fine%20and%20militant%20civil%20rights%20group%20had%20made%20an%20anti-semitic%20remark%22&f=false
"I do not view [an anti-Semitic remark] as anti-Jewish. I see it as anti-man and anti-God...Today, we particularly need the Hebrew prophets because they taught us that to love God was to love justice." https://books.google.com/books?id=AnnqvOGfkr4C&pg=PT139&lpg=PT139&dq=%22one+of+the+leaders+of+a+fine+and+militant+civil+rights+group+had+made+an+anti-semitic+remark%22&source=bl&ots=AMXJ_l74iR&sig=ACfU3U2m1pFvvBRxDahpaTDgVUVkr8drVw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXyaixp9noAhXTKM0KHUmEDt8Q6AEwAHoECAMQKQ#v=onepage&q=%22one%20of%20the%20leaders%20of%20a%20fine%20and%20militant%20civil%20rights%20group%20had%20made%20an%20anti-semitic%20remark%22&f=false
From "The Middle East Question":
"At the heart of the problem are oil interests...'American policies in the Middle East have been motivated in no small measure by the desire to protect the...stake which U.S. oil companies have invested in the area.' https://www.villagevoice.com/2020/01/19/martin-luther-king-on-anti-semitism/
"At the heart of the problem are oil interests...'American policies in the Middle East have been motivated in no small measure by the desire to protect the...stake which U.S. oil companies have invested in the area.' https://www.villagevoice.com/2020/01/19/martin-luther-king-on-anti-semitism/
From "Let My People Go":
"[T]he large majority of the human race is non-white, yet it is that large majority that lives in hideous poverty. While millions enjoy an unexampled opulence in developed nations 10,000 people die of hunger each and every day"
http://rfksafilm.org/html/speeches/peopleking.php
"[T]he large majority of the human race is non-white, yet it is that large majority that lives in hideous poverty. While millions enjoy an unexampled opulence in developed nations 10,000 people die of hunger each and every day"
http://rfksafilm.org/html/speeches/peopleking.php
From "Honoring Dr. Du Bois":
"Some people would like to ignore that [Du Bois] was a communist in his later years. It is worth noting that Abraham Lincoln warmly welcomed the support of Karl Marx during the Civil War and corresponded with him freely." https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/01/web-du-bois-martin-luther-king-speech
"Some people would like to ignore that [Du Bois] was a communist in his later years. It is worth noting that Abraham Lincoln warmly welcomed the support of Karl Marx during the Civil War and corresponded with him freely." https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/01/web-du-bois-martin-luther-king-speech
Another from "Honoring Dr. Du Bois":
"[D]espair is all too prevalent. In the years [Du Bois] lived and fought there was far more justification for frustration and hopelessness and yet his faith in his people never wavered." https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/01/web-du-bois-martin-luther-king-speech
"[D]espair is all too prevalent. In the years [Du Bois] lived and fought there was far more justification for frustration and hopelessness and yet his faith in his people never wavered." https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/01/web-du-bois-martin-luther-king-speech
That's as far as I've gotten so far (about halfway), but I'll return to this thread and add to it as a continue to chip away at the anthology.
