Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Oppression

• Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Direct Action

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

• The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Change, Kings, People

• Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Revenge, Men

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.115, Beacon Press

• Often the oppressor goes along unaware of the evil involved in his oppression so long as the oppressed accepts it.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Long, Evil, Oppression

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

• I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into a oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream 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 content of their character. I have a dream today!

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Children, Character

  Speech at Civil Rights March,Washington, D.C., 28 Aug. 1963

• There is such a thing as the freedom of exhaustion. Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up. [...] The oppressed must never allow the conscience of the oppressor to slumber. [...] To accept injustice or segregation passively is to say to the oppressor that his actions are morally right.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Giving Up, People, Black History

  "Three Ways of Meeting Oppression". Essay by Martin Luther King, Jr., taken from MLK's book "Stride Toward Freedom", 1958.

• A second way that oppressed people sometimes deal with oppression is to resort to physical violence and corroding hatred.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, People, Hatred

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (1964). “A Martin Luther King Treasury”

• You know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. There comes a time, my friends, when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of humiliation, where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair. There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspiring, Tired, July

  Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech at MIA Mass Meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, kinginstitute.stanford.edu. December 5, 1955.

• You know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Tired, Iron, Feet

  Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech at MIA Mass Meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, kinginstitute.stanford.edu. December 5, 1955.

• Some people are so worn down by the yoke of oppression that they give up.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Giving Up, People

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

• I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Dream, Oasis, Justice

  "Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech is the greatest oration of all time" by Sean O'Grady, www.independent.co.uk. April 3, 2018.

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