It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. “…it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. Just a few weeks before he died, in a packed high school gym just outside Detroit, constantly interrupted by a rowdy right-wing crowd picketing his appearance, King had these radical words to say: By then, King’s language had become stronger and more assertive, urging direct action to bring about change.įor King had never meant nonviolent protest to mean “wait and see.” In fact, he made very clear that rebellions have their place in America. In the year he died, he had just launched the Poor People’s Campaign, which appealed to impoverished people of all races, and sought to address the issues of unemployment, housing shortages and the impact of poverty on the lives of millions of Americans, white and Black. However, less attention is paid to the words he spoke in the latter part of his life.
