I've Been to the Mountaintop

Excerpts from King's speech

Regarding the strike, King stated that

He warned the protesters not to engage in violence lest the issue of injustice be ignored because of the focus on the violence. King argued that peaceful demonstrations were the best course of action, the only way to guarantee that their demands would be heard and answered.

Regarding the Civil Rights Movement, King demanded that the United States defend all its citizens as promised in the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and stated that he would never give up until these natural rights were protected, saying

Regarding economic boycotts, King advocated boycotting white goods as a means of nonviolent protest. He said that the individual Negro is poor but together they are an economic powerhouse, and they should use this power to stop support for racist groups and instead empower black businesses. Although the industries might not listen to protests, they would be forced to listen to boycotts lest they be driven out of business. King named several businesses as targets for the boycott:

In another message advocating unity and shared burdens, King invoked the biblical story of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which a wounded Jewish traveler is rescued by a Samaritan, despite the tension between their respective ethnoreligious groups. This story had been of interest to King and his work in the Civil Rights Movement for at least half a decade before this point due to its directive to look past the demographic characteristics of someone in need, or the impact helping another may have on one's own life, and prioritize the moral ideal of Love Thy Neighbor.

Toward the end of the speech, King referred to threats against his life and used language that prophetically foreshadowed his impending death, but reaffirmed his audience that he was not afraid to die for what he believed in:

Biblical references

The 'prophetic' language used by King referred to events described in the Biblical book of Deuteronomy. In it, Moses, the leader of the people of Israel, leads them to life in the Promised Land. Before they reach it, however, Moses is informed by God that, because of an incident in which he did not believe God (), he will not reach the land himself, but will only see it from a distance.

Shortly after, Moses dies, and his successor Joshua leads them into the Promised Land.

References

References

1. Martin Luther King Jr.. (April 3, 1968). "I've Been to the Mountaintop". American Rhetoric.
2. [https://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/sayitplain/mlking.html "I've Been to the Mountaintop." Memphis, Tennessee – April 3, 1968]. Speech by [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] Info and transcript. ''Say It Plain. A Century of Great African American Speeches.'' By [[American RadioWorks]].
3. [https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/ive-been-mountaintop Martin Luther King Jr.: "I've Been to the Mountaintop", delivered 3 April 1968, Memphis, Tennessee] at Stanford University, including transcript of audience responses.
4. (March 27, 2018). "Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Final Speech". [[History (American TV network).
5. Martin Luther King Jr.. (March 1, 1963). "On Being a Good Neighbor". The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute.
6. Abrams, Sam. (May 16, 2014). "King and Moses: Both saw the Promised Land".
7. Rosenbloom, Joseph. (2018-04-04). "Martin Luther King's last 31 hours: the story of his final prophetic speech". The Guardian.