For decades, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches have been analyzed, critiqued, and studied but what has been detrimental to those uplifting orations are that only parts of his words are being used to create a simple-minded perspective of the entirety of his vision. The phrases “peaceful protest” and “nonviolence” are indeed a common thread throughout his teachings and practices but not the only ones Dr. King had. After his death in 1968, the retelling of his vision has been lost in translation and has been reduced to only his most popular speech “I Have A Dream.”

Here we will unearth the quotes that can not be “whitewashed” or “toned down.”

• 1.

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  “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” —A Time to Break the Silence: April 4, 1967

• 2.

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  “…the price that America must pay for the continued oppression of the Negro and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction.” —The American Dream: July 4, 1965

• 3.

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  “White Americans must recognize that justice for Black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society.” —Where Do We Go from Here? 1967
• 4.

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  The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and racism. The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power. - King to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) board on March 30, 1967.

• 5.

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  "But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear?...It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." —  “The other America,” 1968

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