Quotes about Martin Luther King

I think it’s a good thing for a president or political leaders to want to put their values or their faith into action. Desmond Tutu did that in South Africa. Martin Luther King Jr. did that here. This is a good thing.

Martin Luther King can have his own self-titled birthday recognized as a national holiday, but not our country’s first president?

I never knew about racial segregation until Martin Luther King.

I grew up reading Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

The sum total of what I learned about African American culture in school was Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Underground Railroad. This was more than my mom knew; she didn’t even see a black person in real life until she was 18 years old.

One of the greatest men to ever walk this land was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His life exemplified unity by bringing people together for the good of all. In any small way I hope to someday bring people together like Dr. King.

My mom pushed me in a baby carriage at Martin Luther King rallies. My grandfather was a union organizer. And to me, there is no room – no room – for discrimination of any kind. To me, it’s just an anathema.

I have very purposely never signed up with commercial lecture agencies as most, I think, prominent historical authors do because, to me, that’s a contradiction of who I believe I am given my absorption of the teaching of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Southern, conservative minister who believed in the American promise. His dream was patriotic and traditional. Family, work, self-determination and religion comprised his core values.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a time to honor the greatest champion of racial equality who taught a nation – through compassion and courage – about democracy, nonviolence and racial justice.

We forgot that Martin Luther King, Jr. changed his discourse toward the end of his life because he understood that the real fundamental problem of this country was not just race, it was class. It was the economical situation of not only poor blacks but also the poor white part of the population and everything in between.

I remember the day Richard Nixon won in 1968. That was a time that seemed certain to bring about long awaited seismic change in America. But events of tragic proportion took us on a turn. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were suddenly dead.

The White man pays Reverend Martin Luther King so that Martin Luther King can keep the Negro defenseless.

What I’ve always said is that I’m opposed to institutional racism, and I would’ve, had I’ve been alive at the time, I think, had the courage to march with Martin Luther King to overturn institutional racism, and I see no place in our society for institutional racism.

I kind of struggled as a 10-year-old to make out what it meant that Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were killed within two months of each other. I think I was 14 when Watergate happened and a president was impeached. So between my birth and age 14, I just saw a lot of turmoil.

I am humbled, gratified and overjoyed at the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in commemoration of my father’s leadership. It of course means a lot to our family. But more important, it is a great step forward for America.

The name James Baldwin had been around the house for as long as I could remember and meant almost as much as that of Martin Luther King.