Yesterday I received a nice text from a member of the Class of 2009.  Knowing I am a huge fan of Dr. Martin Luther King, this young man texted me, “Happy Martin Luther King Day -you taught me how important his words are.”  For years I’ve used Dr. King’s writing as the foundation for my teaching, beginning with his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”  When I was given Call to Conscience, the collection of his speeches, as a gift I poured through them, listening to his message as it matured and shifted during the late 50s and early 60s. I found myself captivated and enthralled by his choice of language and powerful presence. 

While most people are familiar with the “I have a dream” speech, my favorite speech is his last.  Delivered the evening before he was assassinated amidst a literal and figurative storm warning, Dr. King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” is a moving testament to a life of service to others and a commitment to changing the status quo.  It is for this reason that I was thrilled yesterday when I learned about a speech that recently resurfaced.  Originally given in 1960 to a crowd at Bethel College in Wichita, Kansas, the audio is crisp and clear, resounding with his well known baritone.  While the text and full audio have yet to be released, one excerpt I heard resonated with me.

He challenges us to break the chains of social expectation, to think differently from those around us.  As he does in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King pushes us to avoiding being the white moderate, or an individual “more dedicated to ‘order’ than to justice; one who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”  In this new speech he asks listeners to challenge the status quo: “I call on you to be maladjusted. I never intend to adjust myself to the evils of segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry.” I think Dr. King would hope that none of us would adjust ourselves to the evils and bigotries of our own day – be they socioeconomic disparity or continued racial or ethnic prejudice.  Rather, he would ask us to fight on and in doing so he would hope that we might look deeply at each other and see what is most essential:

“The important thing about a man is not his specificity, but his fundamentum, not the texture of his hair or the color of his skin, but the texture and quality of his soul.”

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Best, John