let us honor Dr. King ✌🏻✌🏼✌🏽✌🏾✌🏿

 
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Today would have been Reverend Martin Luther King Junior's 89th birthday. It is also the day for us to honor his Nobel Peace Prize-winning work as a leader in the civil rights movement.

A few things you might not know about Dr. King: 

  • He gave over 2500 (!) lectures and traveled over six million miles to spread his message. 🌎  (source) 
  • He enrolled in college at the tender age of 15. (source)
  • At the time, he was the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. (In 2014, Malala Yousafzai was given it at age 15.) 
  • Dr King, who subscribed to Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, was imprisoned 29 times for non-violent protests. (source) 
  • 250,000 people heard his "I Have a Dream" speech in person during the March on Washington––but they almost didn't: the expensive sound system brought in was sabotaged just before the event. It took the Attorney General and the Army Corps of Engineers to get it back up and running in time. 🎤 (source)

Here is a personal favorite point he made during that talk: 

We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say "We must not wage war." It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace. 
Image of Dr. King smiling and waving, in front of a huge crowd. The quote says "We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path."

Image of Dr. King smiling and waving, in front of a huge crowd. The quote says "We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path."

We must fight; this is not a time for apathy or for indecision. But what we are fighting for has to be good, and I think that fighting for a peaceful world (with equality for all) is the most valuable fight that there is. 

Dr. King did an incredible amount of work during his lifetime; I'm exhausted just reading about those six million miles! ✈️  But there is so much left for us to do. Perhaps reading or listening to his Nobel Lecture can re-light the compassionate fire in you? 

xo

Liza

By the way, I try to always credit artists / designers / photogs –– but these two images have been shared so widely that I'm not able to find the original photographers. If you know, would you please let me know so I can give credit where it's due? 

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