The voice of King

Boing Boing has a link to a story about a Jewish temple in Hollywood where Dr Martin Luther King Jr was invited to speak back in 1965. The speech was recorded but it has never really been played outside of the archives at the temple; now to mark Martin Luther King day next week there will be a special interfaith service including some gospel singers with Dr King's voice from the recording; the speech has also been made available here as a two part MP3. I've always liked King - he isn't perfect, he isn't holier than thou, he had flaws and imperfections just like the rest of us; he was human. But he acted and spoke out as he thought he had to, despite knowing that he put himself in danger by doing so, as you can tell from his "I have a dream" speech (still gives me goosebumps) when he says "I may not get there with you". He didn't, in one sense, since he was assassinated; he did in another since many still turn to his words for inspiration. King is one of those people who reaches out beyond his ethnic, religious and national boundaries; you don't have to be black, Christian or American, he is one of those figures who belongs to the world.