Which MLK Jr. quote is most relevant today? Tallahassee community members reflect
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As Monday marks the 38th annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it comes right after the birthday of the highly esteemed civil rights leader and activist himself — an icon who dedicated his life to the fight for equality and social justice.
Between the day he was born on Jan. 15, 1929, and his assassination on April 4, 1968, King elevated to become an epitome of what it means to stand up for civil rights as he marched against issues ranging from racial segregation to polarization among the poor and the wealthy.
He was also known for speaking in support of rights that range from voting among people of color to having equal access to an education.
While King is remembered on a greater scale across the country on MLK Day, his Tallahassee visits years ago made the capital city just one of the many places he traveled to as he continually pursued justice for all.
Records show that King came to Tallahassee at least three different times — in May 1957 during the first anniversary of the Inter-Civic Council, in May 1959 to speak at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and again in April 1964.
More:'Freedom is never given freely': Remembering when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Tallahassee
Related news:Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of non-violent protest intersects with Tallahassee's lunch-counter actions
As the nation reflects on who King was and the type of issues he was concerned about in his day, some similar issues today resonate with them, including police brutality.
Data from an article in The Washington Post shows that 1,108 people have been shot and killed by police in the U.S. in 2022 – making it the year with the highest number of fatal police shootings. While Black individuals account for roughly 14% of the U.S. population, they are killed by police at more than twice the rate of white individuals.
But despite the ongoing issues throughout the nation, King’s name continues to be widely acknowledged both near and far as his powerful words and meaningful actions — which involved non-violent protests in places like Montgomery, Alabama — reach the ears of individuals from all over.
To celebrate King’s life and achievements, Florida A&M University held its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation at the Al Lawson Center on campus Friday with keynote speaker Pastor Quincy Griffin, who leads the Family Worship and Praise Center.
The Tallahassee community continues to honor King Monday during the city's MLK Day Parade along North Monroe Street from noon to 2 p.m. Following the promenade is a festival at Cascades Park from 2-6 p.m. featuring live entertainment and local food vendors, among other events.
Florida State University will also be hosting its 2023 Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week from Monday to Friday with the theme “It Starts with Us: Advocating for Access in Higher Education and Society.” One of the week's events, presented by FSU's Golden Torch Lecture Series, will feature renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump as a speaker at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Ruby Diamond Concert Hall on campus.
With the commemoration of MLK Day, the Tallahassee Democrat asked a few notable individuals in the Tallahassee community to offer their insight on the questions “Which MLK quote is most relevant to today’s socio-political situation” and “What MLK quote is taken out of context the most today.”
Here are their responses:
Bill Proctor Jr., District 1 commissioner, Leon County Board of County Commissioners
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
I Have a Dream Speech, 1963
“That speaks to this moment with the continuing issues we see. The issue of race — who gets to come into America and who gets to be naturalized as American citizens — is still a towering question that has significant political consequences.
When color remains a barrier for who can come in and who stays out, that’s a problem. When people of color are denied educational access, denied jobs and denied loans at the bank to purchase a home, when there are food deserts in the midst of communities of color, when they have poor services, no streetlights and no central sewer, color continues to be the permitting basis of services, the distribution of services, and access to opportunity.
We have a governor who’s saying that he doesn’t want any wokeness, trying to act like history can be sanitized and made colorblind. All that does is cause kids of color to not be aware of the historical evolution of color and the significance of laws as they are withheld from people of color in this country.
To me, King’s quote is a very extraordinary statement that is applicable to today because opportunities for men and women are still being based on not character, but skin color."
“Do you know that most of the poor people in our country are working every day? And they are making wages so low that they cannot begin to function in the mainstream of the economic life of our nation. These are facts which must be seen, and it is criminal to have people working on a full-time basis and a full-time job getting part-time income.”
All Labor Has Dignity Speech, 1968
"Here we are in 2023, and we’ve gone past 1968 by over 50 years. Still, one paycheck by a hardworking man or woman is insufficient to cover food, clothing and shelter — it's a struggle. In America, there is enough money and enough wealth, but the distribution of it is still a problem."
Davis Houck, Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies, FSU
“All mankind is tied together, all life is interrelated, and we are all caught in an unescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.”
Commencement Speech at Oberlin College, 1965
“Dr. King expressed this quote frequently in his speechmaking, and it also appears in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. As he liked to remind audiences, that sense of mutuality and mutual interdependence wasn’t a new sentiment at all, but it was an urgent one. It remains an urgent one. And isn’t it curious that a country watching a football game can suddenly come together in its concern for a young Black man, Damar Hamlin? Why can’t we come together for a young Black man who isn’t a professional athlete, or catastrophically injured on national television?”
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
I Have a Dream Speech, 1963
“I don’t think people quite understand the complexity of this quote. They want to easily claim ‘Dr. King hopes that one day we won’t care about race,’ or argue some version of, ‘see, Dr. King really didn’t want us to focus on race.’ I don’t think that’s what he meant at all, but it gets cherry-picked for those reasons.
In describing his dream, Dr. King is expressing a hoped-for reality, one in which race will not serve as a determining screen or a filter on how someone is judged. He’s not trying to say race doesn’t — or shouldn’t — matter. Given our history, we know it will always matter. But the question is how it matters. How does another’s skin color affect what we see?”
Reginald Ellis, professor of history and African American studies, FAMU
“All we say to America is, 'Be true to what you said on paper.’”
I've Been to the Mountaintop Speech, 1968
“This is the one that really resonates with me now. If America lives up to who she said she was on paper, then we would be a great nation. If the ideas of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness really were infused throughout the entire nation where everyone had those inalienable rights, then America would be that great, shiny city on the hill for everyone. I think this is one of the most relevant quotes for the 21st century.
I think the whole I Have a Dream Speech — not just one quote — is taken out of context. People forget that it was a speech that was really talking about the poor people’s campaign, and they forget the whole first half of the speech where he’s really challenging the nation to do better about workers’ rights.
If you go back and even watch the speech, King actually turns his written address over and goes into this sermonic riff of ‘I have a dream that one day…’. People focus so much on that closing and the hopeful aspects of what he sees America to be that they forget the main purpose of his address where he challenges America to do better by all of our people.”
Maxine Jones, professor of history, FSU
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
I Have a Dream Speech, 1963
“This quote will always be relevant. It was relevant when he made it, and it’s relevant now. People usually judge based on what they see — based on your color, your gender, your sexual orientation. That’s what first impressions tend to be, and oftentimes, it’s hard to change first impressions."
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Loving Your Enemies Sermon, 1957
"I think people say this quote but don’t really think about what it really means. I don’t think they understand that it involves some action on their part. Martin Luther King Jr. mentioned love in a lot of his quotes, but many people don’t consider that aspect.”
Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee community reflects on Martin Luther King Jr. & his words
