Clarion Defender_1968-04 Special Memorial Edition

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING GAVE HIS OWN EULOGY -· "SAY I TRIED TO LOVE SOMEBODY" CLARION DEFENDER During the first week of February, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., told his congregation at the Ebenezer Baptist Church what he wanted for a eulogy. "Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victim– ized with what is life's final. common denominator -– that something we call death," Dr. King said in an emotional sermon. "We all think about it and every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don't think about it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself what it is that I would want said ~nd I leave the word to you this morning. "If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. "And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy tell him not to talk too long. "And every now and then I wonder what I want him to say. "Tell him not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Pri~e -- that isn't important. "Tell him not to mention that I have 300 or 400 • other awards -- that's not important. Tell him not to mention where I went to school. "I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving o-thers. "I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr~, tried to love somebody. "I want you to say that day that I tried to be right and to walk with them. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to · clothe the naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. And I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. "Yes, if you want to, say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. "And all of the other shallow things will not matter. "I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behing. "And that is all I want to say. If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a song, if I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain. "If I can do my duty as a Christia~ ought. "If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought. "If I can spl'"ead -the message as the Master taught. "Then my living will not be in vain." In l'knwr~ of tt gr~at lfultunt-i-taria.t~t MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. A SAMPLING OF KING Q~OTES Quotati~ns from Dr. Martin Luther King, entitled his "Dreams and Inspiration," were included in a printed program for his funeral services. They included: "History has thrust upon our generation an indescribably import– ant destiny . -- to complete a process of democratization which our nation has too long developed too slowly. How we deal with this crucial situation will determine our moral health as individuals, our cultural health as a region, our political health as a nation, and our prestige as a leader of the free world."-- 1958. "The question is not whether we will be extremists but , what kind of extremists will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice -- or will we be extrem– ists for the cause of justice?" Letter from a Birmingham jail, April 1963. "I have a dream that my four littie children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character." -- The march on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963. "Some of you have knoves and I ask you to put them up. Some of you have arms and I ask you to put them up. Get the weapons of non– violence, the breastplate of righteousness, the armor of truth and just keep marching." - 1964. "Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes~a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him that it is right." -- On taking a po~ition against the war in Vietnam, 1967. "Poor people's lives are dis– rupted and dislocated every day. We want to put a stop to this. Poverty, racism and discrimination cause families to be kept apart, men to become desperate, women to live in fear, and children to starve."-– On the poor people's campaign, 1968. "Like everybody, I would l 'ike to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will ... I've looked over and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land." --April 3, 1968. In September 1958 Dr. King was stabbed by a woman in Harlem, N. Y. His.mother, Mrs. M. L. ~ing and wife, visited him in hospital.