Happy MLK Day, y'all
In celebration of one of the greatest warriors in the fight for BLACK RIGHTS and justice that the US has ever seen.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Atlanta, Georgia
16 August 1967
http://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/martin-luther-king-speeches/martin-luther-king-speech-where-do-we-go-from-here.htm
"Even semantics have conspired to make that which is black seem ugly and degrading. In Roget's Thesaurus there are 120 synonyms for blackness and at least 60 of them are offensive, as for example, blot, soot, grim, devil and foul. And there are some 134 synonyms for whiteness and all are favorable, expressed in such words as purity, cleanliness, chastity and innocence. A white lie is better than a black lie. The most degenerate member of a family is a "black sheep." Ossie Davis has suggested that maybe the English language should be reconstructed so that teachers will not be forced to teach the Negro child 60 ways to despise himself, and thereby perpetuate his false sense of inferiority, and the white child 134 ways to adore himself, and thereby perpetuate his false sense of superiority.
The tendency to ignore the Negro's contribution to American life and to strip him of his personhood, is as old as the earliest history hooks and as contemporary as the morning's newspaper. To upset this cultural homicide, the Negro must rise up with an affirmation of his own Olympian manhood. Any movement for the Negro's freedom that overlooks this necessity is only waiting to be buried. As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery. No Lincolnian Emancipation Proclamation or Johnsonian Civil Rights Bill can totally bring this kind of freedom. The Negro will only be free when he reaches down to the inner depths of his own being and signs with the pen and ink of assertive manhood his own Emancipation Proclamation. And, with a spirit straining toward true self-esteem, the Negro must boldly throw off the manacles of self-abnegation and say to himself and to the world, "I am somebody. I am a person. I am a man with dignity and honor. I have a rich and noble history. How painful and exploited that history has been. Yes, I was a slave through my foreparents and I am not ashamed of that. I'm ashamed of the people who were so sinful to make me a slave." Yes, we must stand up and say, "I'm black and I'm beautiful," and this self-affirmation is the black man's need, made compelling by the white man's crimes against him."
Video
King Center - http://www.thekingcenter.org/
MLK Collection at Morehouse - http://www.morehouse.edu/kingcollection/index.php
Nobel Bio - http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html
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JAG has done some really beautiful posts on how impassioned he was fighting for the black -- need to point that out 'cause some folks around here always seem to leave that bit out -- sanitation workers in Tennessee.
The bit of that speech that always stands out to me is when he says that he is not ashamed to have been descended from slaves! That we have nothing to be ashamed of. That it was the people who were so "sinful" to have had slaves that are the ones that should have been ashamed. That is such a powerful statement to make.
(23...I really believe we need to check to see if we are related or separated at birth or something!! Seriously, I really appreciate your voice!)
Awww, that is so sweet! 
I feel exactly the same.
And, so very True!
I'm glad to see it's not just me that thinks that this is one of his most powerful and important speeches. 
