Today we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In May 1967, Dr. King stood on the steps of Sproul Hall right here at UC Berkeley, addressing thousands of students, faculty, and community members with his speech "America's Chief Moral Dilemma."
At a time of deep national division over the Vietnam War and the slow pace of the Civil Rights Movement, his message that day was a call to action–challenging us to move beyond the surface-level comforts of popularity and safety: "On some positions cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' Conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there are times in life when you must take a stand that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but you take it because it is right."
It was this commitment to conscience that fueled his radical hope. Despite the heavy climate of the 1960s, he looked toward the future with a stubborn, transformative faith, telling the Berkeley crowd: "I believe that we will be able to emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of man's inhumanity to man into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice... somehow I still have faith that keeps me going through these difficult days. I hope that we will develop the coalition of conscience and will solve this problem."
Today, we honor his legacy by choosing the "glittering daybreak" over the easy path.
You can listen to his full speech via Berkeley Community Media.