Prayer by Dr. Martin Luther King

God grant that right here in America and all over this world, we will choose the high way; a way in which men will live together as brothers. A way in which the nations of the world will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. A way in which every man will respect the dignity and worth of all human persons. A way in which every nation will allow justice to run down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. A way in which men will do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. A way in which men will be able to stand up, and in the midst of oppression, in the midst of darkness and agony, they will be able to stand there and love their enemies, bless those persons who curse them, pray for those individuals that spitefully use then. And this is the way they will bring us once more into that society which we think of as the brotherhood of man. This will be the day when white people, colored people, whether they are brown or whether they are yellow or whether they are black, will join together and stretch out their arms and be able to cry out: “Free at last. Free at last. Great God almighty, we are free at last.”

(From Martin Luther King’s speech, “Some things we must do” delivered at the Second Annual Non violence and Social Change Conference at Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama December 5, 1957)