Born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an important and influential activist and minister who transformed race relations in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. He became a leading figure in the civil rights movement and advocated for racial equality through nonviolent resistance.

Dr. King was a prolific orator and writer who published several books, letters, and speeches. In 1963, he published, Strength to Love, a collection of sermons based on his radical fusion of religious teachings and ideas on nonviolence resistance.

Among the most powerful messages in this landmark work is his belief that courage, hope, and love are the means to combat hate and oppression:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.

According to Dr. King, we must break the cycle of hate and learn to love our enemies. This is the basis for how we will overcome injustice and transform society.

He developed and refined these ideas throughout his career. In 1957, he preached a sermon titled “Loving Your Enemies” at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on this theme:

Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.

Terribly, Dr. King’s life was cut short by fear and hate on April 4, 1968, but his lessons and philosophy continue to be relevant today. I believe it’s true that “love is ultimately the only answer to humankind’s problems.”

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