NYS Nurses Association
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s fight continues today
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision and leadership inspired millions of people to take action and sacrifice everything for freedom -- and inspires millions more to do the same today.
“Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up,” King said on April 3, 1968, the night before his murder. “And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free.’”
Nurses join our nation in honoring his legacy — and taking up the challenge to build a freedom movement to take on racism and inequality.
Dr. King’s work is far from over. Racism and inequality are on the rise — not in decline — in the United States. Black Americans still face unemployment and poverty rates more than double the rates for white Americans.
Dr. King spent the last days of his life in Memphis, walking picket lines with 1,300 striking sanitation workers -- and launching a Poor People’s Campaign to take on poverty in the U.S.
We still need a movement like that today. Let’s build one, together.
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life,” he said, as he came to the end of his last speech. “Longevity has its place.”
“But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”