One thing nearly all African Americans over the age of 40 have in common is that our parents, and grandparents always had three pictures hanging on a wall side by side: Jesus Christ, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In college I would sit for hours and listen to recordings of Dr. Kings speeches.  They always made me cry because I would think why would anyone kill this person.  Even today I sometimes wonder what our world would be like had he lived.

There are lots but here are 4 of my favorite MLK quotes:

Marting Luther King, Jr. – Civil Rights Activist

1). “No man can ride you unless you bend over and let him. (I internalized this early.”  (Sitting here writing this I think it might be one reason I can sometimes seem confrontational.  It’s because I refuse to be taken advantage of.)

2).” 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.”

3). “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  We are caught in an inescapable network of mutually, tied in a single garment of destiny.  Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.  (Wow, what great insight.”  (Today we all know this and think of it mostly in terms of world economics, but MLK knew it way back in 1963.)

4). “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

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Photo Credit: <a href=”<a href=”https://rodneygoldston.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/mlk-quotes-martin-luther-king-jr-civil-rights-activist.jpg”>Martin Luther King, Jr.</a> via <a href=”https://rodneygoldston.com>Photo by Rodney Goldston</a>