Celebrating Nek Lauy (Cool People) - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Seen and heard on Ms. Seng Theary's Facebook


"But Daley had double-crossed them by obtaining a court order banning further marches. As was his style, King sat silent through most of the contentious meeting, letting others air their views. The mood was hostile, and it looked as though the meeting would break apart in bitterness. King finally spoke up, with what one onlooker described as a 'grand and quiet and careful and calming eloquence'.

"Let me say that if you are tired of demonstrations, I am tired of demonstrating. I am tired of the threat of death. I want to live. I don't want to be a martyr. And there are moments when I doubt if I am going to make it through. I am tired of getting hit, tired of being beaten, tired of going to jail. But the important thing is not how tired I am; the important thing is to get rid of the conditions that lead us to march.

"Now, gentlemen, you know we don't have much. We don't have much money. We don't really have much education, and we don't have political power. We have only our bodies and you are asking us to give up the one thing that we have when you say, 'Don't march.' (From BEARING THE CROSS).

"King's speech changed the mood of the meeting, and ultimately led to a new agreement with Mayor Daley."

- Philip Yancey's SOUL SURVIVOR (chapter on Martin Luther King, Jr.)