Martin Luther King with Love: A Southern Quakers Tribute

This Pendle Hill pamphlet reflects years of appreciation and assimilation, conscious and subconscious, of the writing and faith of Martin Luther King, Jr. The essay tells of a painful but beneficial catharsis of a sad, racist past and a joyous recognition of the essential truth of King's message of nonviolent change and unconditional love. King's mystical perceptions of God, his pacifism, his dealings with Quakers and Quaker organizations, his determination always to find the Divine Spark in the most unlovable person--all of these make an essay about him of particular interest to Friends and others of like faith who believe that violence and hate are neither inevitable nor the only way of conducting our lives. I can most succinctly explain my reasons for writing this essay by offering a quote from King's "Beyond Vietnam" (1967): "I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart ..."