Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College
King, Jr., Martin Luther. 1986. “Where Do We Go from Here? Chaos or Community” [essay not speech] (1967), In A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. edited by James M. Washington, pp. 555-633. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
The above suggested resource is not available online at John Jay, but is available to be checked out of the library at “Stacks E 185.97 .K5 A25 1991″
Martin Luther King’s 1967 essay “Where Do We Go from Here?” refers to the turmoil in the late 1960s around intense poverty, racism, the War in Vietnam, inflation, violence, and urban decay. The urban rebellions in Black communities forced the nation to confront the problems of racism and poverty, and attempt to resolve them. Dr. King was optimistic about the future, if we were willing to make changes. A sharing of power was required, but mostly we need a “transformation of values” and economic justice. MLK’s essay is extremely persuasive about the kinds of transformation we need to become a caring society and develop a beloved community. He also gave a speech with the same title that is not as focused on economic justice. He based his book “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community”: on that essay.
This is a library resource.