Return Love for Hate: Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of the most prolific speakers of our time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., became the most visible leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s. Today, January 18, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day as we honor his legacy of advancing the liberties of African-Americans through nonviolence and civil obedience.

Born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Dr. King was a Baptist minister whose Christian beliefs were the hallmark of his activism, leading numerous marches for African-Americans’ right to vote, desegregation, and labor rights, among other basic civil rights. Before his assassination in 1968, Dr. King helped organize the 1963 March on Washington where he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

In the book Cheon Il Guk and Our Mission (2018), part of the anthology of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, co-founder of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), Dr. Moon shares the late Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon’s deep respect for Dr. King and his vast impact on the world.

“When he was asked who the greatest American leader of the 20th century is, my husband, Rev. Moon, replied, ‘Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’ At a time when many oppressed people wanted to return hate for hate, Dr. King said, ‘We must return love for hate.’”

An incredible peacemaker, Dr. King promoted unity among all people and Constitutional justice. Below is an excerpt of his “I Have a Dream” speech delivered on August 28, 1963:

“…There is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: in the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. (My Lord, No, no, no, no) [applause] We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. (My Lord) 

Again and again (No, no), we must rise to the majestic heights (Yes) of meeting physical force with soul force. (My Lord) The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people (Hmm), for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny [sustained applause], and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. (My Lord) Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. (My Lord, That’s right) Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution (Yeah, Yes) and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. 

Continue to work with the faith (Hmm) that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi (Yeah), go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities (Yes), knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. (Yes) Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. (My Lord) 

I say to you today, my friends [applause], so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow (Uh-huh), I still have a dream. (Yes) It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. (Yes) I have a dream (Mhm) that one day (Yes) this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed (Hah): ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ …This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children (Yes, Yeah) will be able to sing with new meaning: ‘My country, ‘tis of thee (Yeah, Yes), sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. (Oh yes) Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride (Yeah), from every mountainside, let freedom ring!…

And when this happens [applause] (Let it ring, Let it ring), and when we allow freedom ring (Let it ring), when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city (Yes Lord), we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children (Yeah), black men (Yeah) and white men (Yeah), Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics (Yes), will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! (Yes) Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’ [enthusiastic applause]”

FFWPU-USA leaders held a special online meeting January 18—Prayer for the Nation—honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Guest speakers included Dr. Michael Jenkins and Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, Jr., American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) national co-chairmen emeriti; Dr. Luonne Rouse, ACLC national co-chairman; and Rev. Levy Daugherty, senior advisor for ACLC, among others.

Let us heed the great wisdom of the late Dr. King and live each day with peace and love in our hearts.

You can read Dr. King’s full “I Have a Dream” speech here, and listen to the entire audio here.

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