King's Mountain Top Speech

Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of his most visionary speeches, known as the Mountain Top Speech, at the Mason Temple Church on April 3rd, 1968. His determined tone of voice gave the audience hope for a brighter future where Americans would finally "be true to what they say on paper," and grant blacks with social equality to match their equal constitutional rights. He recognized that the black people simply wanted be treated as people, all created by God, and therefore all equal. However, injustice cast a shadow over the possibility of equality, and therefore postponed the achievement of the black's goals. King encouraged his audience to maintain focus on the goal of their people; to rid of injustice. He claimed that injustice was the heart of segregation and discrimination. King spoke of a future where Americans would finally develop a "dangerous unselfishness" where they would rid of segregation and discrimination in order to treat all others equally with respect, though it may have caused individuals to feel discomfort. King made an example out of The Good Samaritan, describing the instance of a man who decided to help a hurt man because he thought "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?", rather than asking "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?". This is an example of the "dangerous unselfishness" King encouraged people to have. The man disregarded his own comfort to help a man who was feeling discomfort. King said that the Good Samaritan's empathy positively affected another's life. Ridding of injustice, would positively affect many lives, as long as the blacks do so by being respectful and self-less in their effort to change.  He meant that the great man’s ability to project the “I” into the “thou” meant to help others as if you were helping yourself. In doing this, one puts himself in another man's shoes. King encouraged all of America to think how eliminating injustice can affect the population, and ultimately create a unified, peaceful, just nation.