Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - "I've Been to the Mountain Top"

Words Matter

Riley Fessler

News, Government

4.6 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On April 3, 1968 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis, Tennessee to lend his support, his help, and his leadership to the Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike. That February, Black sanitation workers had walked off the job because two of them had been crushed to death in a garbage compacting truck. There was already unrest and tension because the Black workers were paid poorly and treated even worse. They deserved a raise and better working conditions. On March 28, Dr. King participated in a huge Memphis march, but to his dismay, it ended in violence. With the intention of leading a peaceful march later that week, Dr. King returned to Memphis on April 3. That evening, he spoke at Mason Temple, then the Church of God in Christ world headquarters. As he had throughout the tumultuous struggle for Civil Rights during the 1950s and 60s, Dr. King called on America and Americans to live up to the promise of our founding creed, and to honor the words of our founding documents. As Dr. King came to the end of his speech, he talked about his 1958 attempted assassination, the bomb threat that delayed his plane that day, and threats made against him in Memphis. As a storm raged outside the packed church, Dr. King prophetically spoke of his own mortality. The next day, Thursday, April 4, 1968, Dr. King was at the Lorraine Motel with aides and friends; Rev. Billie Kyles of Memphis arrived to take the group to dinner. At about 6 p.m. Dr. King stood with Rev. Kyles on the balcony outside his Room 306 and told musician Ben Branch to be sure to play “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” at the rally that evening. Then, as Dr. King leaned over the balcony railing to speak with his young aide Reverend Jesse Jackson he was struck down by an assassin’s bullet. He was 39 years old. Later that evening, in Indianapolis, Indiana – presidential candidate, Senator Robert Kennedy delivered the news of Dr. King’s murder to a crowd of black and white supporters. Exactly two months later Robert Kennedy himself was assassinated in Los Angeles after winning the California Democratic presidential primary. With that, let’s listen to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I've Been to the Mountain Top” in its entirety. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/words-matter. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Words Matter with Katie Barlow.
0:12.0	Welcome to Words Matter, I'm Katie Barlow.
0:15.0	Our goal is to promote objective reality.
0:18.0	As a wise man once said, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, not their own facts.
0:24.0	Words have power and words have consequences.
0:32.0	On April 3rd, 1968, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
0:38.0	was in Memphis, Tennessee to lend his support, his help, and his leadership to the Memphis sanitation workers strike.
0:47.0	That February, black sanitation workers had walked off the job because two of them had been crushed to death in a garbage compacting truck.
0:56.0	There was already unrest and tension because the black workers were paid poorly and treated even worse.
1:03.0	They deserved a raise and better working conditions.
1:07.0	On March 28th, Dr. King participated in a huge Memphis march, but to his dismay it ended in violence.
1:15.0	With the intention of leading a peaceful march later that week, Dr. King returned to Memphis on April 3rd.
1:22.0	That evening, he spoke at Mason Temple, then the Church of God in Christ, World Headquarters.
1:29.0	As he had throughout the tumultuous struggle for civil rights during the 1950s and 60s, Dr. King called on America and Americans to live up to the promise of our founding creed and to honor the words of our founding documents.
1:44.0	All we say to America is be true to what you said on paper.
1:51.0	I live in China, are you going to rush on any totalitarian country?
2:03.0	Maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges because they have committed themselves to that over that.
2:21.0	But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly, somewhere I read of the freedom of speech, somewhere I read of the freedom of press, somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest far right.
2:48.0	As Dr. King came to the end of his speech, he talked about his 1958 attempted assassination, the bomb threat that delayed his plane that day, and threats made against him in Memphis.
3:01.0	As a storm raged outside the PEC Church, Dr. King profedically spoke of his own mortality.
3:08.0	Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now because I've been to the mountain top.
3:21.0	I don't mind. Like anybody I would like to live a long life, long-jeveteer has its place, but I'm not concerned about that now.
	...

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