As a songwriter, there’s nothing better than winning Song Of The Year. But I couldn’t really celebrate, because it wasn’t right. Luther wasn’t standing next to me, to receive the award.
Early on, I wrote a letter to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was 17. I felt called, moved.
A calling is you feel – you look out and see the need – maybe it’s the need for the poor, to help poor people. Maybe it’s the need to get involved in the race problem, as Martin Luther King was – felt called.
I believed in Obama for social issues. I believe he brought our nation together and healed our racial divide. Martin Luther King’s dream came true when he was elected. That’s huge.
I have been inspired by Martin Luther King and how he inspired a movement. I have learned that a cause must be organic; if it is to have an impact it must belong to those who join the movement and not those who lead it.
What can we be in life? Few figures in history have answered this question with as much clarity and moral authority as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
My all-time heroes are Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., two men who had to really work to achieve what they did. And I had the privilege of meeting them both.
I grew up in the 1960s in Memphis, and my father was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union. I was born three years before Martin Luther King was killed, and I think that history of civil action was something that I had in my blood.
I’d love to a duet with Luther Vandross.
If Congress can move President’s Day, Columbus Day and, alas, Martin Luther King’s Birthday celebration for the convenience of shoppers, shouldn’t they at least consider moving Election Day for the convenience of voters?
I’m the Ali of today. I’m the Marvin Gaye of today. I’m the Bob Marley of today. I’m the Martin Luther King, or all the other greats that have come before us. And a lot of people are starting to realise that now.
I like major theology. I like Karl Barth, and I like John Calvin, and I like Martin Luther. The scale of thinking and the power of integration that they’re capable of from thinking in that scale is something that’s really unique to theology.
I hope that the opening of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial will be a life-altering experience that inspires every American to rededicate themselves to the fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream.
I took an interest in the Civil Rights Movement. I listened to Martin Luther King. The Vietnam War was raging. When I was 18, I was eligible for the draft, but when I went to be tested, I didn’t qualify.
I couldn’t say no to A. Philip Randolph and no to Martin Luther King, Jr. These two men, I loved them, I admired them, and they were my heroes.
Martin Luther King Jr., recognized bias when he saw it, knew what he was talking about.
We’re trained to see the world in terms of charismatic organizations and charismatic people. That’s who we look to for leadership and change, for transformation. We’re awaiting the next J.F.K., the next Martin Luther King, the next Gandhi, the next Nelson Mandela.
Martin Luther King can have his own self-titled birthday recognized as a national holiday, but not our country’s first president?
I grew up listening to the greats of the ’80s and, thanks to my parents, the ’70s – the Doobie Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Luther Vandross, Lionel Richie.
In fifth grade, we did 10 minutes on slavery and 40 minutes on Abraham Lincoln, and in 10th grade you might do 10 minutes on the civil rights era and 40 minutes on Martin Luther King, and that’s it.
Hip-hop has done more for race relations than most cultural icons; and I say save Martin Luther King, because his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech was realized when Obama was elected into office.
Among her many accomplishments, my mother is often identified as the leader of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday movement.
Martin Luther King, Jr., would have been the last person to have wanted his iconization and his heroism. He was an enormously guilt-laden man. He was drenched in a sense of shame about his being featured as the preeminent leader of African-American culture and the civil rights movement.
I was proud to march beside some of the most notable Civil Rights activists, such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., from Selma to Montgomery.
What I’ve always said is that I’m opposed to institutional racism, and I would’ve, had I’ve been alive at the time, I think, had the courage to march with Martin Luther King to overturn institutional racism, and I see no place in our society for institutional racism.
Martin Luther King took us to the mountain top: I want to take us to the bank.
There’s a gap somehow between empathy and activism. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of ‘soul force’ – something that emanates from a deep truth inside of us and empowers us to act. Once you identify your inner genius, you will be able to take action, whether it’s writing a check or digging a well.
I’m excited about my own network, BounceTV. It’s the first African-American-owned broadcast network. It’s myself, my partner Rob Hardy, and some other African-American businessmen, including Andrew Young and Martin Luther King III.
We wouldn’t be as far along as a country if we didn’t take on some of Martin Luther King’s ways that he instilled in us.
If Martin Luther King came back, he’d say we need another civil rights movement built on class not race.
Martin Luther King was a misguided leader. He worked to be recognized as the leader of black America when what black America needs isn’t a leader, it is education.
I look in music magazines now and see things on Luther Allison, and my name’s getting out there more, thanks to all the good people at Alligator Records and at my management company.
I think that N.W.A. picked up where Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King would have gone if they hadn’t been assassinated.
Martin Luther would be the headliner of any ‘dead-or-alive dinner party’ I would ever throw. He is, quite simply, one of the most fascinating brains and compelling personalities in history.
The United States is a country founded on the ideal of freedom and equality, values later underlined by key historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a Southern, conservative minister who believed in the American promise. His dream was patriotic and traditional. Family, work, self-determination and religion comprised his core values.
It’s a long way from Martin Luther’s ‘On the Freedom of a Christian’ to ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ and a vigorous Protestantism should be able to prevent the former from degenerating into the latter.
Martin Luther King and Gandhi were not people who failed in self-respect. They were people of hope and great courage, and their courage was disciplined.
I remember Luther Vandross had turned me on to Versace in 1990. I remember a girl ironing the jeans for me and she was, like, ‘What the hell are these? What’s Vercayce?’
I marched back then – I was in a civil-rights musical, Fly Blackbird, and we met Martin Luther King.
Even after facing jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. courageously and boldly spoke out against racial inequality.
The most influential people in my life are deceased. These include my parents, George Dunne, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., my minister in college.
Without my ministry, I would just be Martin Luther King’s daughter. You know, when people call me that, it doesn’t bother me anymore. I know I am not my father. I know I am me.
The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. made me very, very sad, and I mourned and I cried like many of our citizens did.
The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy led directly to the passage of a historic law, the Gun Control Act of 1968.
Do you know what I think of when I remember him? I think: He was such a kid. He taught me how to swim when I was 4 and how to ride a bike. So when I think of Martin Luther King, I think of laughter. I think of the play and the fun.
I think power will do anything to survive and one of its main techniques is the rule of exceptions. So it makes an exception out of people and we worship them, whether that’s Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks. These people become beatified beyond recognition.
I want people to recognize Luther Allison when I play.
Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to live his life serving others.
My mom pushed me in a baby carriage at Martin Luther King rallies. My grandfather was a union organizer. And to me, there is no room – no room – for discrimination of any kind. To me, it’s just an anathema.
Discrimination against Jews can be read in Thomas Aquinas, and insults against Jews in Martin Luther.
If the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights movement made demands that altered the course of American lives and backed up those demands with the willingness to give up your life in service of your civil rights, with Black Lives Matter, a more internalized change is being asked for: recognition.
I’d love to talk with Martin Luther King, just to hear his voice up close and be with someone who had such faith. He had such power.
Martin Luther King Jr. would say love not hate would make America great.
The White man pays Reverend Martin Luther King so that Martin Luther King can keep the Negro defenseless.
