A Knock at Midnight

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

Clayborne Carson and Peter Holloran, ed.s
(New York: IPM/Warner Books,1998)
© The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.

 
In this book under the chapter “American Dream”  and in paragraph 13 you will find
“The other day Mrs. King and I spent about ten days down in Jamaica.  I’d gone down to deliver the commencement address at the University of the West Indies. I always love to go to that great island which I consider the most beautiful island in all the world. The government prevailed upon us to be their guests and spend some time and try to get a little rest while there on the speaking tour. And so for those days we traveled all over Jamaica. And over and over again I was impressed by one thing. Here you have people from many national backgrounds: Chinese, Indians, so-called

 Negroes, and you can just go down the line, Europeans, European and people from many, many nations.  Do you know they all live there and they have a motto in Jamaica, “Out of many people, one people.” And they say, “Here in Jamaica we are not Chinese, (Make it plain) we are not Japanese, we are not Indians, we are not Negroes, we are not Englishmen, we are not Canadians. But we are all one big family of Jamaicans.” One day, here in America, I hope that we will see this and we will become one big family of Americans.  Not white Americans, not black Americans, not Jewish or Gentile Americans, not Irish or Italian Americans, not Mexican Americans, not Puerto Rican Americans, but just Americans. One big family of Americans.” 
We give God thanks for what is happening in the United States and we celebrate with them that people are people, instruments to be used by God, in spite of their colour.  We all have blood running through our veins…each of us hurt, we cry, we laugh just like everyone else.  Our experiences may differ but in our hearts we are the same – we want to be at peace, to be respected and to be loved.
………… 
Understand this, JAMAICA IS unique and we ARE special in the eyes of God! Let us keep praying for our anthem and be committed to our pledge because the truth remains that out of many we are one people. Eternal Father, thank You for blessing our land. 
…  
As Jamaicans we HAVE played our part and will CONTINUE to play our part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race.

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