King’s words still inspire nearly 50 years after his death
ATLANTA — Though his voice was silenced nearly 50 years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of nonviolence still resonates and inspires.
Decades ago, the famed civil rights leader – also regarded as one of America’s greatest orators – recalled driving one night from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee, with his brother A.D. at the wheel. Most cars in the opposite lane failed to dim their lights, and his brother angrily vowed to keep his bright lights on in retaliation.
“And I looked at him right quick and said: ‘Oh no, don’t do that. There’d be too much light on this highway, and it will end up in mutual destruction for all. Somebody got to have some sense on this highway,’” King told the congregation at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama during a 1957 sermon.
“Somebody must have sense enough to dim the lights, and that is the trouble, isn’t it?” King told the congregation. “That as all of the civilizations of the world move up the highway of history, so many civilizations, having looked at other civilizations that refused to dim the lights, and they decided to refuse to dim theirs.”