Each year on Martin Luther King Day I try to choose one of King’s speeches or writings to read and study. Two mentions of the same letter prompted me to choose that as the thing I would read this year. Here’s possibly the most important section of the letter (the same section quoted on the Desiring God Blog):

Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dart of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

Powerful stuff. I’ve included a link below so you can read the whole thing. I highly recommend you do.

See also:

* Letter from a Birmingham Jail, by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
* Desiring God Blog › Don’t Waste Martin Luther King Weekend
* Salt Lake Tribune › Hodges: Congregations unite to worship in the spirit of King’s dream

I’ll be riding my bike in the Harmons MS Bike Tour this year on June 23 in Cache Valley, Utah. Read on to find out how you can help me.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory disease that interrupts the flow of information from the brain to the body and, in severe cases, causes impaired mobility and disability. There is currently no known cure for multiple sclerosis and more than 400,000 Americans live with this debilitating illness. This tour (and about a hundred more like it across the country) is a chance for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to raise awareness and funds, and it’s a great way for me to get in shape and have some fun this summer.

I’m posting this primarily to ask you—yes, you!—to sponsor me in this event. My goal is to raise $500 for MS research and programs. Your contribution is tax-deductible and will be used not only to fund research toward a cure in the future, but also for programs addressing the needs of people living with MS today. Here’s a breakdown of where your dollar goes:

Your contribution can, and will, make an immediate difference for everyone who must face the unpredictable nature of multiple sclerosis. Because of your help, each mile I ride in the MS Bike Tour becomes more powerful and brings us closer to a cure.

However much you can give—great or small—will help. Thank you for your support!

I’d also like to invite you to join me on the tour. Feel free to contact me if you’d like to come along for the ride or if you have any questions.

For more information about the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, how proceeds from the MS Bike Tour are used, or the other ways you can get involved in the fight against multiple sclerosis, visit fightmsutah.org.