FEATURE image: “Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.” by U.S. Embassy New Delhi is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

I came to see that so many people who supported, morally and even financially, what we were doing in Birmingham and Selma were really outraged against the extremist behavior of Bull Connor and Jim Clark toward Negroes rather than believing in genuine equality for Negroes. And I think this is what we’ve gotta see now, and this is what makes the struggle much more difficult. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “The Other America” speech, Stanford University, April 14, 1967.

We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of the tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), Letter From Birmingham Jail, 1963.

I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), Letter From Birmingham Jail, 1963.

I hope that the president didn’t mean to equate nonviolent demonstrations with a riot, and I think it is time for this country to see the distinction between the two…I think demonstrations must continue, but I think riots must end. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), interview from Chicago with Meet The Press, August 21, 1966. Cited in The Eclipse of Equality: Arguing America on Meet the Press, Solon Simmons, Stanford University Press, 2013, p. 160-61.

I contend that we are not doing more harm than good in demonstrations, because I think demonstrations serve the purpose of bringing the issues out in the open. I have never felt that demonstrations could actually solve the problem. They dramatize the existence of certain social ills that could very easily be ignored if you did not have demonstrations. I think the initial reaction to demonstrations is always negative….Ultimately society must condemn the robber and not the robbed. It must protect the robbed, and this is where we are in these demonstrations, and I am still convinced that there is nothing more powerful to dramatize a social evil than the tramp, tramp of marching feet. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), interview from Chicago with Richard Valeriani (NBC News), August 9, 1966. Cited in The Eclipse of Equality: Arguing America on Meet the Press, Solon Simmons, Stanford University Press, 2013, p. 161.

The toughminded person always examines the facts before he reaches conclusions; in short, he postjudges. The softminded person reaches a conclusion before he has examined the first fact; in short, he prejudges and is prejudiced. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “A tough mind and a tender heart,” Strength to Love (1963).

Softminded individuals among us feel that the only way to deal with oppression is by adjusting to it. Softminded acquiescence is cowardly. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “A tough mind and a tender heart,” Strength to Love (1963).

We do not need to look far to detect the dangers of softmindedness. Dictators, capitalizing on softmindedness, have led men to acts of barbarity and terror that are unthinkable in civilized society. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “A tough mind and a tender heart,” Strength to Love (1963).

There is little hope for us until we become toughminded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half truths, and downright ignorance….A nation or a civilization that continues to produce softminded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “A tough mind and a tender heart,” Strength to Love (1963).

This undue gullibility is also seen in the tendency of many readers to accept the printed word of the press as final truth. Few people realize that even our authentic channels of information – the press, the platform, and in many instances the pulpit – do not give us objective and unbiased truth. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “A tough mind and a tender heart,” Strength to Love (1963).

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “A tough mind and a tender heart,” Strength to Love (1963).

Open to our quest for freedom [is] nonviolent resistance, that combines toughmindedness and tenderheartedness and avoids the complacency and do-nothingness of the softminded and the violence and bitterness of the hardhearted. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “A tough mind and a tender heart,” Strength to Love (1963).

God is neither hardhearted nor softminded. He is toughminded enough to transcend the world; he is tenderhearted enough to live in it. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “A tough mind and a tender heart,” Strength to Love (1963).