King, Jr.: Let us stand with a greater determination.

That’s the question before you tonight. Not, “If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job. Not,”If I stop to help the sanitation workers what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?” The question is not, “If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?” The question is, “If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?” That’s the question.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you.

• Martin Luther King, Jr., I’ve Been to the Mountaintop (April 3, 1968 — eve of his assassination)