Thread by @michaelharriot

A few months ago, the estate of Eugene B Sloan allowed me to listen to a recording of a previously unheard speech of Martin Luther King Jr.

https://twitter.com/TheRoot/status/1169717825667293185

“White backlash isn’t nothing new. It’s just a new name for an old phenomenon. There has never been a single solid determined commitment on the part of the vast majority of white Americans on the question of genuine equality for the black man. “
- Martin Luther King Jr.

“We will never understand what is happening in this country today without understanding that we are now reaping the harvest of terrible evil planted by seeds centuries ago. “
Martin Luther King Jr.

“Yes we were given emancipation but no land to make it meaningful. And you know what? At that same time, America was giving away millions of acres of land in the west and the midwest.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

“The nation was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor. Yet it would not do it for those who had been in the land, brought here in chains for 244 years so emancipation for the negro was freedom to hunger.”
#TheRealMLK

“That should be a guaranteed annual income. There are plenty of things that can be done to get jobs for the jobless. Jobs can be created very easily… It’s possible to end poverty. The question is whether the will is there. “
#TheRealMLK

“Someone kept you in slavery for 240 years, and then segregated and discriminated for another 100 yrs and every time you go up to get you a job they want you to have a W.E.B. Dubois mind...a Ralph Bunche sense of international affairs... & a Lena Horne face.” #TheRealMLK

“A lot of white folks have demonstrated eloquently that they don’t have no sense and why should we be that way? The reason I’m not gonna preach a doctrine of black supremacy is because I’m sick and tired of white supremacy”
#TheRealMLK

“We must also realize that privileged groups never give up their privileges voluntarily. If we are victimized with the feeling that we can...wait for the white man to voluntarily give us our justly deserved freedom, we will be the victims of a dangerous illusion”
#TheRealMLK

“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality”
#TheRealMLK

“I don’t believe you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its angry violent dogs literally biting six unarmed, nonviolent Negroes... I’m sorry that I can’t join you in your praise for the police department.”
#TheRealMLK

“I have seen many white people who sincerely oppose segregation and discrimination, but they never took a real stand against it because of fear of standing alone.”
#TheRealMLK

“Many of our white brothers are concerned only about the length of life, their preferred economic positions, their political power, their so-called way of life. If they would ever rise up ... we would be able to solve all of the problems in our nation today.”
#TheRealMLK