Segregation was wrong when it was forced by white people, and I believe it is still wrong when it is requested by black people.
Lesbian and gay people are a permanent part of the American workforce, who currently have no protection from the arbitrary abuse of their rights on the job.
The greatest violence is seeing a child go to bed hungry.
If sexual relations between consenting adults are not part of the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution, then American democracy is in trouble.
You cannot believe in peace at home and not believe in international peace. A war with Iraq will increase anti-American sentiment, create more terrorists, and drain as much as 200 billion taxpayer dollars, which should be invested in human development here in America.
When aroused the American conscience is a powerful force for reform.
When Good Friday comes, these are the moments in life when we feel there’s no hope. But then, Easter comes.
The more visible signs of protest are gone, but I think there is a realization that the tactics of the late sixties are not sufficient to meet the challenges of the seventies.
There is a spirit and a need and a man at the beginning of every great human advance. Every one of these must be right for that particular moment of history, or nothing happens.
I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.
This was really what I was supposed to be doing, and it was a great blessing to have discovered this, and to be doing what was God’s will for your life.
I’m more determined than ever that my husband’s dream will become a reality.
All we seek is an America where every person is given the chance to productively contribute to his country and where he can receive a fair and equitable share of the wealth that production creates.
Violence diminishes our humanity.
Nonviolence is a method that transforms, first of all, the individual once you understand it and embrace it. It begins with you and, if you can, about transforming individuals so that they love unconditionally.
I think if people really read Martin Luther King, Jr., then they would begin to understand what he really represented. The philosophy that he developed, of course, he was greatly influenced by Gandhi and Jesus Christ.
The process of nonviolence is one that takes time and those of us who’ve suffered, who’ve been persecuted over the years, would like to see things change, you know, overnight.
Behind every good man, there’s a good woman reminding you I knew you when you didn’t have nothing.
Because Dr. King was human and not divine – although we think he was divine, he was just a man, an extraordinary man, but a man – and he would get depressed from time to time and disappointed about all kinds of things relative to the movement.
There comes a time when time itself is ready for a change.
No abundance of material goods can compensate for the death of individuality and personal creativity.