MLK, In His Own Words: "'I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government.'
'Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over.'
'A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.'
'I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing-oriented' society to a 'person-oriented' society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.'
These words ring equally true today concerning our failed aggression in Iraq. As a nation, we have learned very little from King's powerful words nor from our own failed foreign policy in Vietnam. Clearly the crimes that King valiantly and heroically struggled against have not gone away. It is up to us to honor the legacy of King by continuing the struggle."