A reflection on Dr. King’s dream

We believe that when we fight to protect Alaska’s lands, waters, wildlife and people, we fight for all human beings, living things, and living systems.

We believe that you cannot separate the fight for civil rights and human rights from the fight for clean water and healthy foods—i.e., salmon returning to unpolluted rivers and caribou nourished on lands free of industrialization —and for the peoples’ voice and agency over their homelands and communities. 

Here, we share some of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that inspire our work.

 “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of density. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

From his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” dated April 16, 1963. (Chosen by Rachel Briggs, legal fellow)

“Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.”

From his speech at the March for Integrated Schools on April 19, 1959. (Chosen by Bridget Psarianos, staff attorney)

“I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’.”

“I Have a Dream” speech, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. (Chosen by Vicki Clark, executive director)