Martin Luther King, Jr., is a man I respected. Last year, I wrote a small piece about him. Today I wanted to do something more, so I spent a lot of time searching for the text of a speech King gave which has become known as “The Street Sweeper Speech.” No luck. I did find the quote which generated the name for the speech:
If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
Unfortunately, most people care only about this line rather than its context. And that context, along with most of his other speeches and sermons, showed that King was not interested in the essence of “being black,” but in the concept of individuality. One other piece sums up his reasons for his belief in individuality, from American Dream sermon
You see, the founding fathers were really influenced by the Bible. The whole concept of the imago dei, as it is expressed in Latin, the “image of God,” is the idea that all men have something within them that God injected. Not that they have substantial unity with God, but that every man has a capacity to have fellowship with God. And this gives him a uniqueness, it gives him worth, it gives him dignity.
Dignity. It is an individual trait. King viewed mankind in the same way as my site looks today–No, not black and white, but colorless. And individuals cannot begin to realize their own potential until they accept what King spoke of. One man who achieved, and was an example King recognized, was Frederick Douglass, whom I also wrote about last January. He lived the life King advocated, pushing himself to excel.
This week, and all next month, hucksters of all colors will remember King as a man who struggled to achieve equal rights for blacks in this country. That sells him short, and ignores the greater goal he espoused. And they ignore it for a reason–He advocated personal responsibility.
****UPDATE****
It is too easy to predict Jackson:
In a passionate speech at Dixon Grove Baptist Church in Jonesboro, south of King’s native Atlanta, Jackson assailed the war in Iraq and insisted the gap between rich and poor in America is widening despite King’s message of peace and equality.
Thanks for your comments about Dr. King. I remember having a great deal of respect and even awe for him as a young kid during the early 60’s. He believed in letting the dignity of man, all men, shine thru.
Comment by Wallace-Midland, Texas — January 16, 2005 @ 8:41 pm
Skip the Cliff Notes (Take Time to Read the Original)
I’ve often posted here about my sadness that spin doctors and speechwriters have become the voices of our leaders. I am frequently saddened by the thought that we no longer value ideas or give ourselves time to absorb meaning. These…
Trackback by Blog o'RAM — January 17, 2005 @ 4:12 pm
The speech you quoted from was given by Dr. King about six months before his assasination. It was given to a group of Junior High School Students and was titled “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” A copy can be found at this link. The paragraph preceeding the one you quoted is also elegant: “And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. don’t just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn’t do it any better.” The man used rhetoric like a sword.
Comment by Cerberus — January 17, 2005 @ 10:39 pm
Well, apparently he liked that line as much as you do, because he also used it in a sermon six months earlier at a church in Chicago: “What I’m saying to you this morning, my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; (Go ahead) sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”
If you can’t be a pine on the top of a hill
Be a scrub in the valley—but be
The best little scrub on the side of the hill,
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.
If you can’t be a highway just be a trail
If you can’t be the sun be a star;
It isn’t by size that you win or fail—
Be the best of whatever you are.
And when you do this, when you do this, you’ve mastered the length of life. (Yes)” The comments in parenthesis, for the non-baptist in the reading audience, are what are called ‘responses’ from the congregation. They are spontaneous shouts from the members of the congregation in response to a stirring message from their preacher.
Comment by Cerberus — January 17, 2005 @ 10:55 pm
Thanks for the link. As an oldtime Baptist who has attended many revivals, I well understand the parenthetical remarks!
Comment by Bunker — January 18, 2005 @ 5:47 am
The speech in Chicago is the one I had seen before. The one to the students was perfect for a group of young people–short and to the point.
Comment by Bunker — January 18, 2005 @ 6:39 am