On Friday, April 4, while the nation celebrated the legacy and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Senator Obama gave one of his shortest and most memorable speeches this year: on the true legacy of Dr. King, and the need for Economic Justice for all Americans. My transcript of speech below. Please rec so others can read this remarkable speech.
On Friday, April 4, while the nation celebrated the legacy and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., many wondered why Senator Obama was not in Memphis with the rest of the Presidential candidates to mark the day.
Well, there were people in Memphis who were there merely to pay lip service. There were people in Memphis, like John McCain who opposed the bill to establish a national holiday in honor of Dr. King. There were people in Memphis, like Senator Hillary Clinton, who have in recent months cast doubt on the extent of Dr. King's contributions to the establishment of civil rights laws in this country. There were people in Memphis on Friday who have forgotten that Dr. King died in Memphis not campaigning for racial equality, but while campaigning with sanitation workers for economic justice. And these are people who have refused to help struggling American families losing their homes, and instead have referred to them as irresponsible.
There were people in Memphis who have forgotten that Dr. King opposed the war in Vietnam, that he spoke out against dumb wars, that he warned America to be careful about how we act abroad and how we deal with other nations if we are to avoid the wrath and retribution of Providence. There were people in Memphis who have forgotten that were Dr. King alive on the eve of the Iraq war, he would have stood with Barack Obama to oppose this war. So, there were a lot of liars and charlatansin Memphis on Friday, saying one thing while doing another, and Senator Obama was not one of them.
But Obama did not forget the legacy and memory of the man that he has referred to as the modern day Moses. In fact, according to him, he called and spoke to Martin Luther King III and the King family that morning, and in Ft. Wayne, Indiana later that day, Senator Obama gave one of his shortest and most memorable speeches this year: on the true legacy of Dr. King, and on the need for what he called economic justice for all regardless of color or creed. That should be our theme and our message this election year: Economic Justice for All Americans.
Senator Obama's Speech on Martin Luther King Day
Fort Wayne, Indiana, April 4, 2008
Today represents a tragic anniversary for our country.
Through his faith, his courage, and his wisdom Dr. Martin Luther King moved an entire nation. He preached the gospel of brotherhood, of equality and justice. That's the cause for which he lived and for which he died 40 years ago and so, before we begin, I ask you to join me in a moment of silence in memory of this extraordinary American.
I had the opportunity to speak to Dr. King's family this morning, Martin Luther King III; they are in Memphis today honoring Dr. King's life and death.
There has been a lot of discussion this week about how Dr. King's life and legacy speaks to us today. It's taking place in our schools, in our churches, on television and around our dinner tables, and I suspect that much of what folks are talking about centers around the issue of racial justice; on the Montgomery Bus Boycott, on The March on Washington, on the Freedom Rides, and The Stand at Selma. And that is how it should be because those were times when ordinary men and women, straight-backed, clear-eyed, challenged what they knew was wrong and helped perfect our Union. And they did so in large part because Dr. King, like a modern day Moses, pointed the way.
But, I also think that it's worth reflecting on what Dr. King was doing in Memphis 40 years ago today when he stepped out onto that motel balcony on his way out for dinner. And what he was doing was standing up for struggling sanitation workers.
For years those workers had served their city without complaint, picking up other people's trash for little pay, even less respect. Passersby would call them working buzzers, and in the segregated South most were forced to use separate drinking fountains and separate bathrooms. But in 1968 those workers decided they'd had enough, and over 1000 went on strike. Their demands were modest; better wages, better benefits, and recognition of their union. But the opposition was fierce, their vigils were met with handcuffs, their protests turned back with mace, and at the end of one march a 16 year-old boy lay dead. This was the struggle that brought Dr. King to Memphis.
It was a struggle for economic justice, for the opportunity that should be available to people of all races and from all works of life, because Dr. King understand that the struggle for economic justice and the struggle for racial justice were really one; that each was a part of a larger struggle for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity.
So long as Americans were trapped in poverty, so long as they were being denied decent wages and benefits and fair treatment; so long as opportunity was being opened to some but not all, the dream that he spoke of would remain out of reach.
And on the eve of his death, Dr. King gave a sermon in Memphis about what the movement meant to him and to America, and in tones that would prove eerily prophetic, Dr. King said that despite the threats that he had received, he didn't fear any man because he'd been there when Birmingham aroused the conscience of a nation. He'd been there to see the students stand up for freedom by sitting at lunch counters, and he'd been there in Memphis when it was dark enough to see the stars, to see the community stand together around a common purpose.
So, Dr. King had been to the mountain top. He'd seen the promised land. And while he knew somewhere deep in his bones that he would not get there with us, he knew that we would get there.
He knew it because he knew that Americans have the capacity, as he said that night, to project the I into the thou, to recognize that no matter the color of our skin, no matter what faith we practice, no matter how much money we have, no matter whether we are a sanitation worker or a United States senator, we all have a stake in one another. We are our brother's keeper. We are our sister's keeper. We are our brother's keeper, our sister's keeper, and "either we go up together, or we go down together." And when he was killed the following day, it left a wound on the soul of our nation that is not yet fully healed.
In few places was the pain more pronounced than in Indianapolis where Robert Kennedy happened to be campaigning. And as Mike mentioned it fell to him to inform a crowd in a park that Dr. King had been killed. Some of you all heard the recordings: the shouts, the pain, that were heard as Robert Kennedy made that statement. And as the shouts turned into anger, Kennedy reminded them of Dr. King's compassion and his love. And on a night when cities across the nation were alight with violence, all was quiet in Indianapolis.
In the dark days after Dr. King's death, Coretta Scott King pointed out the stars. She took up her husband's cause and led the march in Memphis. I had the chance to meet Coretta Scott King on several occasions, visited with her in her apartment down in Atlanta. I remember asking her how she was able to manage all those burdens and she would explain that "it's never about me. It was never about Martin. It's about God's will and God's plan for us."
Coretta Scott King took up that cause and led the march in Memphis even though she was still grieving. Those sanitation workers eventually won their contract. However the struggle for economic justice remains an unfinished part of the King legacy because the dream is still out of reach for too many Americans.
Just this morning it was announced that more Americans are unemployed now than at any time in years, and all across this country families are facing rising costs, stagnant wages, and the terrible burden of losing a home. Part of the problem is that for a long time we've had a politics that has been too small for the scale of the challenges we face. This is something I spoke about in a speech I gave in Philadelphia.
What I said was that instead of us having a politics that's living up to Dr. King's call for unity, we've had a politics that used race to drive us apart. What all this does is feed the forces of division and distraction and stop us from solving our problems.
That is why the great need of this hour is much the same as it was when Dr. King delivered his sermon in Memphis. We have to recognize that while we each have a different patch, we all share the same hopes for the future. We all hope we can find a job that pays a decent wage; that there'll be affordable healthcare when we get sick; that we'll be able to send out kids to college; that after a lifetime of hard work, we'll be able to retire with security. They're common hopes, modest dreams, and they're at the heart of the struggle for freedom and dignity and humanity that Dr. King began, and that is our task to complete.
You know, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. It bends towards justice, but here is the thing: it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice; because we organize and we mobilize and we march, we vote, we parent, we're active in our community, we're active in our schools.
So, on this day of all days, let us each do our part to bend that arc. Let's bend it towards justice. Let's bend that arc towards opportunity. Let's bend that arc towards prosperity for all. And if we can do that and march together as one nation and one people, then we won't just be keeping faith with Dr. King's dream, all that he lived and died for, we'll be making real the words of Amos that he evoked so often and said: let justice roll down like water, and righteousness flow like a mighty stream.
Thank you, Fort Wayne. Thank you.
Please note that this is my transcript. Should anyone locate an official transcript, do notify me so that I can link to it instead.