I don’t typically make historical posts but when it comes to inspiration and motivation. This man is nothing less than amazing. If you are unfamiliar with who Martin Luther King jr. was here’s a brief block-quote from history.com

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington, which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday since 1986.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr

I remember when I was in school and we learned about MLK when his national holiday came around. I remembered hearing about this particular story about when Dr. King realized the race issue. He even talked about it in several of his speeches.

From the time he was three years old, King Jr.’s best friend was a white boy whose father owned the store across the street from his home. When they were preschoolers, they would play every day and treated each other as equals.

When they started school, though, they drifted apart. They couldn’t study in the same building; King had to study in a school for blacks, and his friend studied in one for whites. The boy didn’t come around often anymore. Then, when he was six years old, the boy informed King that his father wouldn’t let them play together anymore.

“For the first time, I was made aware of the existence of a race problem,” King would later recall. He hadn’t thought of himself as different until that moment but now he knew how he was seen. For a long time, the experience filled him with hate.

I remember thinking about all of my friends. All of the beautiful people I met in life up to that point because we no longed had to be segregated as they did back in the day. Two of my very best friends are mixed and black. My nieces and nephews are mixed. Some of the most wonderful people in my life are that of another race. I could not imagine what my life would be like without those amazing, strong souls in my life.

10 Inspiring Quotes by Martin Luther King

1.) “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the staircase.”

2.) “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

3.) “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but by all means, keep going.”

4.) “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. nHate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

5.) “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

6.) “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”

7.)

7.) “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”

8.) :The time is always right to do what’s right.”

9.) Lightning makes no noise until it strikes.”

10.) “In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”

There are so so many more inspiring quotes by him. Hundreds and thousands. He proved what the power of love and words can truly accomplish. I will forever be inspired by this man to initiate change and stand up for what I believe in no matter the consequences.

with love,

c.p