MARY BRASWELL: Looking Back at the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, on what would have been the 88th birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is a look back at some of his words, observations and dreams, as well as views from others.

— “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But … the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”

— “A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”

— “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

— “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 believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

— “Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.”

— “The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”

— “If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.”

— “War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow.”

— “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”

— “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

— “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

— “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”

— “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

— “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

— “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”

— “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

IN OTHERS’ WORDS

— “The unsung heroes of the civil rights movement were always the wives and the mothers.” — Andrew Young

— “At the same time the folk boom was happening, the civil rights movement was happening, the anti-war movement was happening, the ban the bomb movement was happening, the environmental movement was happening. There was suddenly a generation ready to change the course of history.” — Arlo Guthrie

— “The civil rights movement wasn’t easy for anybody.” — Sammy Davis Jr.

— “During the ’60s, I was, in fact, very concernedabout the civil rights movement.” — Joe Biden

ON SEGREGATION

”Segregation was wrong when it was forced by white people, and I believe it is still wrong when it is requested by black people.” — Coretta Scott King

“I think segregation is bad, I think it’s wrong, it’s immoral. I’d fight against it with every breath in my body, but you don’t need to sit next to a white person to learn how to read and write.” — Clarence Thomas

“There is no scriptural basis for segregation.” — Billy Graham

“Many have fought for and even lost their lives to end segregation, to win the right to vote. It disappoints me to now have to cajole people to register and to vote.” — Jesse Jackson

ON THE SUBJECT

“America preaches integration and practices segregation.” — Malcolm X

“The emotions between the races could never be pure; even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing in ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart.” — President Barack Obama

“Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t carry just a piece of cloth to symbolize his belief in racial equality; he carried the American flag.” — Adrian Cronauer

“It’s not the people in the South who create racial problems — it’s the people who are governing.” — Nat King Cole

TIDBITS

— King, at age five, was expelled from the first grade when it was discovered that he was not the required six years of age. Later, he went on to skip both the ninth and 12th grades.

— Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King spent their wedding night in a black-owned funeral home.

— From 1957 until his death in 1968, King traveled more than 6 million miles and delivered more than 2,500 speeches.

— In Jerusalem, there is an MLK Street.

— A favorite Sunday dinner for MLK was fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas and cornbread. His favorite dessert was pecan pie.

— King left his family with no appreciable benefits from his five books, hundreds of speaking engagements and his ministry, nor the $54,600 he earned as recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. King viewed his own financial sacrifice as a vow of relative poverty. King’s funeral procession featured a humble casket drawn by a mule carriage, representative of his final mission, the Poor People’s Campaign. Activists including Harry Belafonte raised money to ensure that the King children were supported through childhood and educated.

— A lifelong lover of hymns, Mahalia Jackson sang one of King’s most treasured songs at his funeral, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.”

In 1977, the Presidential Medal of Freedom was posthumously awarded to King by President Jimmy Carter. The citation read:

“Martin Luther King Jr. was the conscience of his generation. He gazed upon the great wall of segregation and saw that the power of love could bring it down. From the pain and exhaustion of his fight to fulfill the promises of our founding fathers for our humblest citizens, he wrung his eloquent statement of his dream for America. He made our nation stronger because he made it better. His dream sustains us yet.”

QUIK QUIZ ANSWER: a) “Star Trek” (MLK was a huge fan of Nichelle Nichols in her role as Lt. Uhura.)

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.

At the time of Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968, what was his favorite television show?

a) “Star Trek”

b) “Jeopardy!”

c) “Bonanza”

d) “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”

The answer is at the bottom of Mary Braswell’s column.