THE LEGACY OF Martin Luther King, Jr; WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

Today January 21 2013 we remember world peace maker Martin Luther King, Jr; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was a principal leader of the non-violent Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. He not only began the Civil Rights Movement with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he himself became an icon for the entire movement. Since King was, in part, famous for his oratory abilities;

Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That is, Jefferson declared that all citizens have the rights to be free from oppression and have equal opportunities in pursuing their goals. These ideals have been called the American Dream.

Between 1955 and 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. helped change America. He brought to the world's attention how unfairly blacks were treated. He had the help of millions of Americans, but his strong leadership and unprecedented power of speech gave people the faith and courage to keep working peacefully even when others did not. This led to new laws that ended the practice of keeping people of different backgrounds apart, making life fair for everyone.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

Why Martin Luther King is honored throughout the world especially in America?

• He brought to the world's attention how unfairly blacks were treated. He had the help of millions of Americans, but his strong leadership and unprecedented power of speech gave people the faith and courage to keep working peacefully even when others did not. This led to new laws that ended the practice of keeping people of different backgrounds apart, making life fairer for everyone.

• He was a person who believed in peace and justice, to win more freedom for black Americans Martin Luther King, Jr. was that man.

• He believed that darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

• He was taught that one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. 

What a legacy to other nations

• What we learn from him for our nation Tanzania is that happiness in life, as many a disaster, can be due to chance, but the peace within us can never be governed by chance. Peace must be cultivated, protected and honored. It is due to top leaders to make sure that citizens enjoy this peace according to rules as established in the Constitution;

• If our leaders will do that always God blesses the peacemakers for bringing joyful environment; they will make people to live in harmony with one another.

• Martin Luther King Jr legacy is for leaders to be honest in their t responsibilities,  hey need to remember that they have been honored by citizens to bring peace to the nation, 

• Leaders they are required to come up with policies and rules which promotes peace and not promoting killings or riots which at the ends destroy the peaceful atmosphere of a given nation;

Famous quotations from Martin Luther King

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 April 1963

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
-- Speech in St. Louis, Missouri, March 22, 1964

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.
-- Strength to Love (1963)

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
-- "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-- Strength to Love (1963)

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land . . . So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man.
-- "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, April 3, 1968 (the day before his assassination)

If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
-- Speech in Detroit, Michigan on June 23, 1963

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
-- Strength to Love (1963), Ch. 7

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
-- "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for the law.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
-- Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 13, 1962

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.
-- Strength to Love (1963)

We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.
-- Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, December 10, 1964

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

We were here before the mighty words of the Declaration of Independence were etched across the pages of history. Our forebears labored without wages. They made cotton 'king'. And yet out of a bottomless vitality, they continued to thrive and develop. If the cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. . . . Because the goal of America is freedom, abused and scorned tho' we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.
-- "Where do we go from here?" speech, August 16, 1967

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
-- "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963

Martin Luther King, Jr legacy was promoting peace and equal rights and opportunities to all despite our differences;