To be Negro in America is to hope against hope.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the persistent struggle and resilience of Black Americans in the face of systemic adversity.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s quote speaks to the profound challenges faced by African Americans in the United States, where hope often exists amidst a landscape of despair and discrimination. The phrase 'hope against hope' captures the essence of holding onto optimism despite overwhelming obstacles, illustrating a steadfast commitment to the pursuit of equality and justice, even when the odds seem insurmountable.
In practice
A speech during a civil rights rally highlighting the ongoing fight for justice.
This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.
Music is the best consolation for a despaired man
We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
Israel... is one of the great outpost of democracy in the world
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
...Since 1775 the United States Marines have upheld a fine tradition of service to their country. They are doing so today. I am confident they will continue to do so.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it.
Til shade is gone, til water is gone Into the shadow with teeth bared Screaming defiance with the last breath To spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the Last Day.
So it was that the war in the air began. Men rode upon the whirlwind that night and slew and fell like archangels. The sky rained heroes upon the astonished earth. Surely the last fights of mankind were the best. What was the heavy pounding of your Homeric swordsmen, what was the creaking charge of chariots, besides this swift rush, this crash, this giddy triumph, this headlong sweep to death?
Who can be born black and not exult!
The truth is harsh." Anubis said. "Spirits come to the Hall of Judgement all the time, and they cannot let go of their lies. They deny their faults, their true feelings, their mistakes.......right up until Ammit devours their souls for eternity. It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.