How do we expect change to occur if we are not willing to put on the whole armor of God and fight injustice wherever it raises its ugly head?
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for active participation and sacrifice in the fight against injustice.
Bernice King highlights the necessity of being fully prepared to confront and challenge injustice. By invoking the metaphor of putting on the 'whole armor of God', she suggests that one must be equipped with moral strength and conviction in order to effectively engage in the struggle for change, rather than remaining passive or complacent.
In practice
In a speech about community activism, one might quote this to encourage participation in social movements.
I didn't have a father to deal with about boyfriends. I didn't have a father to show me how a man and woman relate in a family setting. Therefore, I have given over my life to mentoring young people. I'm adamant about young people who have been denied a father/daughter relationship.
We cannot afford to regard as normal the presence of injustice, inhumanity, and violence, including their verbal and cyber manifestations.
Seek out your brothers and sisters of other cultures and join together in building alliances to put an end to all forms of racial discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice. There are people of good will of all races, religions, and nations who will join you in common quest for the betterment of society.
My mother was the strong wife, partner, and co-worker Martin Luther King, Jr. needed to be an effective leader, and he said so on many occasions.
One person cannot be blamed for years of problems as it relates to race in America. This is something that has been with us since the founding of this nation. I mean, we were founded with slaves.
If each of us works toward making a sincere effort when we wake up each morning with a renewed commitment and dedication to embracing nonviolence as a lifestyle, this world will become a better place, bringing us ever closer to the Beloved Community of which my father so often spoke.
To bear other people's afflictions, everyone has courage and enough to spare.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.
In swimming, especially training out in the ocean and open water, you got fogged-over goggles, you're stuck with your own thoughts - there's great benefits to that, deep thinking like that after many hours, but there's also tremendous loneliness. You burn out. You want to run, jump, ski, do anything. So at age 30, I was finished.
At sixteen I get drafted. When I read the draft notice, I cry. Not because I'm a coward - I'm not afraid of anyone. But I don't want to kill or be killed.
There is nothing romantic about teargas. Or smoke bombs or rubber bullets or sound cannons.
I didn't want people to know me as a victim.
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