...but I wouldn't stop there

 

----------------------------- [excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr. speech, delivered April 3, 1968, at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee]

Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world.  And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" 

I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land.  And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there.

I would move on by Greece and take my  mind to Mount Olympus.  And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon.  And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality.  But I wouldn't stop there.

I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire.  And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders.  But I wouldn't stop there.

I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man.  But I wouldn't stop there.

I would even go by the way that the man for whom I am named had his habitat.  And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church of Wittenberg.  But I wouldn't stop there.

I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating President by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.  But I wouldn't stop there.

I would even come up to the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation.  And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but "fear itself."  But I wouldn't stop there.

Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy."

...And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn't done, and done in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed.  Now, I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period to see what is unfolding.  And I'm happy that He's allowed me to be in Memphis.

...Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history?  It means that we've got to stay together.  We've got to stay together and maintain unity.  You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it.  What was that?  

        He kept the slaves fighting among themselves.  But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery.  When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery.  Now let us maintain unity.

...Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be -- and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out.  

That's the issue.  And we've got to say to the nation:  We know how it's coming out.  For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

We aren't going to let any mace stop us.  We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don't know what to do.  I've seen them so often.  I remember in Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that majestic struggle there, we would move out of the 16th Street Baptist Church day after day; by the hundreds we would move out.  

        And Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth, and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around."

Bull Connor next would say, "Turn the fire hoses on."  And as I said to you the other night, Bull Connor didn't know history.  He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn't relate to the transphysics that we knew about.  

And that was the fact that there was a certain kind of fire that no water could put out.  And we went before the fire hoses; we had known water.  

If we were Baptist or some other denominations, we had been immersed.  

If we were Methodist, and some others, we had been sprinkled, but we knew water.  

That couldn't stop us.

And we just went on before the dogs and we would look at them; and we'd go on before the water hoses and we would look at it, and we'd just go on singing "Over my head I see freedom in the air."  And then we would be thrown in the paddy wagons, and sometimes we were stacked in there like sardines in a can.  And they would throw us in, and old Bull would say, "Take 'em off," and they did; and we would just go in the paddy wagon singing, "We Shall Overcome."  

And every now and then we'd get in jail, and we'd see the jailers looking through the windows being moved by our prayers, and being moved by our words and our songs.  And there was a power there which Bull Connor couldn't adjust to; and so we ended up transforming Bull into a steer, and we won our struggle in Birmingham.  Now we've got to go on in Memphis just like that.  I call upon you to be with us when we go out Monday.

...I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us.  The pilot said over the public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane.  And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with anything on the plane, we had to check out everything carefully.  And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."

And then I got into Memphis.  And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out.  What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don't know what will happen now.  We've got some difficult days ahead.  But it really 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 so 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.

(January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968)

-30-