Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? by
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The book that he was set to release when Hoover assassinated him, looks like we chose the former. It's got at least one mic drop per page.
Some faves quotes:
“When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.“
“The real cost lies ahead. The stiffening of white resistance is a recognition of that fact.“
“It is difficult to let others see the full psychological meaning of caste segregation. It is as though one, looking out from a dark cave in a side of an impending mountain, sees the world passing and speaks to it; speaks courteously and persuasively, showing them how these entombed souls are hindered in their natural movement, expression, and development; and how their loosening from prison would be a matter not simply of courtesy, sympathy, and help to them, but to all the world. One talks on evenly and logically in this way but notices that the passing throng does not even turn its head, or if it does, glances curiously and walks on. It gradually penetrates the minds of the prisoners that the people passing do not hear; that some thick sheet of invisible but horribly tangible plate glass is between them and the world.... Then the people within may become hysterical. They may scream and hurl themselves against the barriers, hardly realizing in their bewilderment that they are screaming in a vacuum unheard and that their antics may actually seem funny to the outside looking in. They may even, here and there, break through in blood and disfigurement, and find themselves faced by a horrified, implacable, and quite overwhelming mob of people frightened for their own existence.“ -[
W.E.B. Du Bois quote]
“The movement is depicted as absorbed in controversy, confused in direction, venal towards its friends, and in such turmoil it has tragically lost its golden opportunity to attain change today.“
“We unconsciously patterned a crisis policy and program, and summoned support not for daily commitment but for explosive events alone.“
“To guarantee an income at the floor would simply perpetuate welfare standards and freeze into society poverty conditions.“