Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Martin Luther King's Birthday January 15 Hear excerpt from Dr. King's historic speech (March on Washington, August 28, 1963) 1965 Letter on Soviet Jewry 1966 Address on Soviet Jewry The King Center Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service America's Promise

 

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The New York Times

January 16, 1965

Dr. King Joins Protest

To the Editor:

I am profoundly shocked by the treatment of the Jewish people in the Soviet Union. I would like strongly to endorse the moral protest and appeal of conscience to the Soviet Union published as an advertisement in The Times Jan. 14.

I should like to add my voice to the list of distinguished Americans of all faiths who have called the injustices perpetrated against the Jewish community in the Soviet Union to the attention of the world.

The struggle of the Negro people for freedom is inextricably interwoven with the universal struggle of all peoples to be free from discrimination and oppression. The Jewish people must be given their full rights as Soviet citizens as guaranteed by the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. itself.

The anti-Jewish tone of the economic trials must cease. The free functioning of synagogues should be permitted. There should be no interference with the performance of sacred rites. The religious and cultural freedom of this old Jewish community should be re-established.

In the name of humanity, I urge that the Soviet Government end all the discriminatory measures against its Jewish community. I will not remain silent in the face of injustice.

Martin Luther King Jr.
Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 14, 1965

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Address to Forerunner of NCSJ

From Dr. King’s 1966 Address to the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry (predecessor to NCSJ):

While Jews in Russia may not be physically murdered, as they were in Nazi Germany, they are facing everyday a kind of spiritual and cultural genocide.  The absence of opportunity to associate as Jews in the enjoyment of Jewish culture and religious experience becomes a severe limitation upon the individual.  These deprivations are a part of a person’s emotional and intellectual life.  They determine whether he is fulfilled as a human being.  Blacks as well understand and sympathize with this problem.  When you are written out of history, as a people, when you are given no choice but to accept the majority culture, you are denied an aspect of your own identity.  Ultimately you suffer a corrosion of your self-understanding and your self-respect.

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