It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your power for positive change, you are, indeed, part of the problem.
Interpretation
Strong opinions alone are insufficient; action is required to drive positive change.
This quote emphasizes that merely holding strong beliefs or opinions is not enough if those beliefs do not translate into constructive actions. Coretta Scott King highlights the importance of using one's influence and power for the betterment of society; otherwise, inaction turns one into a contributor to the very issues they oppose.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to encourage civic engagement.
I've always felt that homophobic attitudes and policies were unjust and unworthy of a free society and must be opposed by all Americans who believe in democracy. The civil rights movement thrives on unity and inclusion, not division and exclusion. My husband's struggle parallels that of the gay rights movement.
...We have an historic opportunity for a great global healing and renewal. If we will accept the challenge of nonviolent activism with faith, courage, and determination, we can bring this great vision of a world united in peace and harmony from a distant ideal into glowing reality.
I think if people really read Martin Luther King, Jr., then they would begin to understand what he really represented.
Sometimes, I am also identified as a civil rights leader or a human rights activist. I would also like to be thought of as a complex, three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood human being with a rich storehouse of experiences, much like everyone else, yet unique in my own way, much like everyone else.
People don't ever have to starve to death; there are solutions. We have failed if we can't eradicate hunger in Africa and Ethiopia.
I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual orientation.
If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way you think.
You'd think that in this age, especially in the 21st century - especially with all the technology and all the discoveries that we've made - that we would figure out how to tackle abuse.
If humankind would accept and acknowledge this responsibility and become creatively engaged in the process of evolution, consciously as well as unconsciously, a new reality would emerge, and a new age could be born.
The only permanent and constructive changes you can make in the world are the changes that you make in yourself.
The great and unlooked for discoveries that have taken place of late years have all concurred to lead many men into the opinion that we were touching on a period big with the most important changes.
That is our generation’s task - to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.
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