The Day Martin Luther King Came To Newcastle
Tonight's entry comes courtesy of thismaz, so thank you very much!
Did you know that in November 1967 the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King was honoured at Newcastle University in the North of England? Newcastle was the only UK institution to recognise King during his lifetime, in this case with an honorary doctorate that King came to receive in person, despite being on a very busy 24 hour visit to the UK. It came only 5 months before his assassination.
Here's an excerpt from the speech he gave and you can see film of it at the link!
It may be true that morality cannot be legislated but behaviour can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can restrain him from lynching me; and I think that is pretty important also. And so while the law may not change the hearts of men, it does change the habits of men if vigorously enforced, and through changes in habits, pretty soon attitudinal changes will take place and even the heart may be changed in the process. And so that is a challenge and a great one. For all men of good will to work passionately and unrelentingly to get rid of racial injustice, whether it exists in the United States of America, whether it exists in England, or whether it exists in South Africa, wherever it is alive it must be defeated and somewhere along the way, in this sometimes sick and often terribly schizophrenic world, we have got to come to see that the destiny of white and coloured persons is tied together.
Watch the speech
Did you know that in November 1967 the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King was honoured at Newcastle University in the North of England? Newcastle was the only UK institution to recognise King during his lifetime, in this case with an honorary doctorate that King came to receive in person, despite being on a very busy 24 hour visit to the UK. It came only 5 months before his assassination.
Here's an excerpt from the speech he gave and you can see film of it at the link!
It may be true that morality cannot be legislated but behaviour can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can restrain him from lynching me; and I think that is pretty important also. And so while the law may not change the hearts of men, it does change the habits of men if vigorously enforced, and through changes in habits, pretty soon attitudinal changes will take place and even the heart may be changed in the process. And so that is a challenge and a great one. For all men of good will to work passionately and unrelentingly to get rid of racial injustice, whether it exists in the United States of America, whether it exists in England, or whether it exists in South Africa, wherever it is alive it must be defeated and somewhere along the way, in this sometimes sick and often terribly schizophrenic world, we have got to come to see that the destiny of white and coloured persons is tied together.
Watch the speech