Lost Speech of Martin Luther King

Dr King at County Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, July 30th 1967. (Via the University of South Carolina)

A lost speech of Dr Martin Luther King Jr has been found. On July 30th 1967 at the County Hall in Charleston, South Carolina here is some of what he said in the 45-minute speech:

On White backlash:

“Now we hear a lot of talk about the white backlash and uh you hear people saying that Negroes pushing too fast and all of this so that now you get a white backlash – a white reaction. Whatever I hear anybody say this I always remind them the white backlash isn’t nothing new. It’s just a new name for an old phenomenon. There has never been a single solid determined commitment on the part of the vast majority of white Americans on the question of genuine equality for the black man.”

On US history and the lack of reparations:

“Now America must hear about its sins because we will never understand what is happening in this country today without understanding that we are now reaping the harvest of terrible evil planted by seeds centuries ago. Yes we were given emancipation but no land to make it meaningful. And you know what? At that same time, America was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest. It was said the nation was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor.”

On poverty and universal basic income (UBI):

“Everybody who’s able ought to have a job in this country. And everybody … who isn’t able to work ought to have an income. That should be a guaranteed annual income. There are plenty of things that can be done to get jobs for the jobless. Jobs can be created very easily … It’s possible to end poverty. The question is whether the will is there. And Negroes can learn, we hear all these things when we talk about employment they tell us we’re not qualified. Now I don’t know what you feel about it. But that always uh gets me a little disgusted. Someone kept you in slavery for 244 years, and then segregated and discriminated for another 100 years and every time you go up to get you a job that want you to have a W.E.B. Du Bois mind and then beyond that they want you to have a Ralph Bunche sense of international affairs, a Marilyn Monroe figure, a Lena Horne face.”

On race riots and Black supremacy:

“And so I’m not gonna give you a motto or preach a philosophy ‘Burn, baby burn’. I’m gonna say ‘Build, baby build’, ‘Organize, baby, organize’. I’ve decided to stick with love. Somebody’s gotta have some sense in this world. And a lot of white folks have demonstrated eloquently that they don’t have no sense and why should we be that way? The reason I’m not gonna preach a doctrine of black supremacy is because I’m sick and tired of white supremacy.”

More: The Root.

– Abagond, 2020.

See also:

• the week before this speech:
  • The 1967 Detroit riot
• Martin Luther King, Jr – other speeches:
  • 1963: I Have a Dream
  • 1967: Riverside speech against the Vietnam War
  • 1967: Where Do We Go From Here?
  • 1968: I’ve Been to the Mountaintop
• Quoting MLK
• policy:
  • Freedom Budget
  • UBI
  • Homestead Act
  • reparations
• people:
  • W.E.B. Du Bois
  • Ralph Bunche
  • Marilyn Monroe
  • Lena Horne

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