This year’s MLK Week theme, Learning to Action: Movement Toward Just Communities, encourages individuals to participate in active listening, self-reflection, and meaningful action toward social justice. On January 24th, Bucknell’s Student Government MLK and Diversity Committee invited the community to engage deeply with Dr. King’s words by reflecting on one of his speeches in its entirety. For me, this was a rare and eye-opening experience—I hadn’t listened to a full MLK speech since elementary school, and even then, my exposure was selective, often limited to the same few well-known lines from I Have a Dream.
Revisiting King’s work now illuminated something crucial: much of what we remember about him has been softened or selectively framed to fit a more comfortable narrative. Many of his most radical ideas—his critiques of systemic economic injustice, militarism, and the deep-seated structures of white supremacy—are often left out of mainstream discussions. Instead, his words are frequently decontextualized to promote a vague message of unity, disconnected from the direct calls for action he made.
One of the most commonly misinterpreted quotes is “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” While this phrase is often used to suggest that love alone is enough to overcome injustice, King himself made it clear that love must be paired with action and structural change. His concept of agape, or selfless love, was not passive but rather a driving force behind movements that demanded tangible justice.
Another widely quoted phrase, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” suggests that progress is inevitable. However, King did not believe justice would arrive on its own; he emphasized that progress requires continuous struggle and intentional effort. In reality, this phrase originated from 19th-century abolitionist Theodore Parker, and King’s use of it was deeply tied to the necessity of activism, not passive hope.
Spending the time to contextualize the speech alongside a group of driven individuals who each share culminating experiences about Black History has been a unique and eye-opening introduction to Bucknell’s MLK week this year.
–Jeremiah Charles ’27