While Martin Luther King Jr. is best known for his “I Have a Dream” speech on racial justice, he was also a champion of economic equality.
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If you do not want to spend Monday watching Inauguration Day coverage and listening to Donald Trump talk about how great he is, keep in mind that it is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
While many Americans are at least somewhat familiar with his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, many of his other remarks are also worth reading or listening to, beginning with one from 70 years ago that launched the Montgomery bus boycott in response to Rosa Parks being arrested for not giving up her seat to a white woman in a public bus.
Calling for nonviolent protests, King rallied thousands of people with a rousing speech.
“[We] are not wrong in what we are doing,” he said. “If we are wrong, the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong. If we are wrong, Jesus of Nazareth was merely a utopian dreamer that never came down to earth. If we are wrong, justice is a lie. Love has no meaning.”
When watching and reading his speeches and sermons, one of the things that is striking is that King not only talked about racial injustice, which is obviously what he is best known for. He also frequently discussed an issue that continues to divide Americans to this day: the divide between rich and poor that transcends racial lines.
And many of his words still ring true today.
“Our nation is now so rich, so productive, that the continuation of persistent poverty is incendiary because the poor cannot rationalize their deprivation,” he wrote in an op-ed for The Nation in 1966.
We have yet to confront and solve the international problems created by our wealth in a world still largely hungry and miserable. But more immediate and pressing is the domestic existence of poverty. It is an anachronism in the second half of the 20th century. Only the neglect to plan intelligently and adequately and the unwillingness genuinely to embrace economic justice enable it to persist.
What was true 60 years ago continues to be true to this day… especially with a billionaire president taking his oath of office on Monday after having been propelled into the White House with the assistance of a man who is even wealthier.
And, at the same time, regular Americans are struggling.
To this day, neither King’s dream of racial justice has been achieved nor that for economic equality. In fact, while some gains have been made with regard to the former, it seems as though we are now further away from the latter than during his times.
And that is why so many of his remarks have withstood the test of time.
To read more from WhoWhatWhy editors about the legacy of King:
MLK Jr. — From ‘Give Us the Ballot’ to ‘Why America May Go to Hell’
In 2023, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we asked our editors to reflect on their favorite quotes from King and how they resonate today.
Martin Luther King Also Had a Nightmare
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, WhoWhatWhy presents — through a fascinating collection of pictures — a brief history of American racism, a look at the kind of hatred, atrocities, and soul-searing humiliation that spurred King into action.
That Day Martin Luther King Dreamt of 60 Years Ago Is Not Today
The divide between white and Black remains too pronounced for a country in which everybody is supposed to be treated as equals. Maybe their water fountains no longer stand apart, but there are gaps everywhere else.
For more of King’s writings and speeches, you can check out Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute.
