Martin Luther King, Jr.

As done twice before on this blog (click here and here), this post calls attention to today’s remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As in my other posts, I highlight a speech given by Dr. King. In this one, the acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, he asked a question similar to the one asked by President Obama when he accepted the same prize last year.

Why? Why should he, as a representative of a movement “which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize,” be the recipient of this prestigious award?

His answer still rings true 45 years later in a world where peace is far from won.

“After contemplation, I conclude that this award . . . is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time — the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression . . . . I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history . . . . I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality . . . . I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. ‘And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid’ . . . . I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners — all those to whom beauty is truth and truth beauty — and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.”