MLK Jr's words
rereading "Beyond Vietnam" this morning....(thinking of March 28 protest) end of the speech:
A genuine revolution of values means...... Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve
the best in their individual societies
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.
We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace (in Vietnam) and justice
throughout the developing world—a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act we shall surely be dragged
down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion,
might without morality, and strength without sight.
Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter—but beautiful—struggle for a new
world. This is the callling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the
odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American
life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message,
of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The
choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.
As that noble bard of yesterday, James Russell Lowell, eloquently stated:
"Once to every man and nation Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth and falsehood, For the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God’s new Messiah, Off’ring each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever Twixt that darkness and that light.
Though the cause of evil prosper, Yet ’tis truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, And upon the throne be wrong:
Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow Keeping watch above his own."
edit to add link https://www.crmvet.org/info/mlk_viet.pdf