Welcome to Douglas Murray’s column “Things Worth Remembering,” in which he presents great speeches we should commit to heart. Scroll down to listen to Douglas reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.’s defense of Israel.
I haven’t yet written about Martin Luther King Jr. in this series, because I have been saving him. He was without doubt one of the greatest orators of the twentieth century, as well as one of its moral heroes and—effectively—martyrs. To honor him, America marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day tomorrow, the federal holiday coinciding this year with the inauguration of President Trump. It’s strange to think that, were it not for the act of one man on a spring day in Memphis, King could feasibly have just celebrated his 96th birthday.
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life,” he said in the speech he gave on April 3, 1968. “But I’m not concerned about that now.”
“I've been to the mountaintop,” he told an audience in Memphis. “And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”
He was assassinated the next day.
