When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered…True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes necessary to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring…A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death…We are now faced with the fact , my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now… We must move past indecision to action.
--Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., "Beyond Vietnam, A Time to Break Silence," delivered April 4, 1967.
Full text.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a brilliant speaker, but he was so much more. He has become an beacon of hope in our world, and as we have worked to make his dream a reality, we have become a much better nation for it. His dream is far from realized, however. There are still great divisions in American society, those which are used to divide us, be they racial, cultural, or economic.
Yesterday, Barack Obama spoke at Dr. King's church, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and pointed out another of Dr. King's prophetic statements that has relevance today:
Unity is the great need of the hour.
And so it is. We need unity not only in our society, not only between blacks and whites, but in our political system as well. We do not need to alienate people now, we need to bring people together. It is impossible to accomplish real change in the American political system without unity. This isn't a new development; the Founding Fathers thought it up this way. They knew that the best way to make lasting change would be to not only encourage compromise, but to demand it. Unity is the only way forward.
Now is not the time for polarizing politics that accomplishes nothing but gridlock in this time of great need. We need someone who can bring us together.
Dr. King did it. His vision of America as a place where people are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character is slowly becoming a reality. I know another person who can unify folks today. And we have the opportunity to elect him president, something unthinkable when King was marching on Selma.
Watch Obama's speech in Dr. King's church. You won't be disappointed.
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