In the last speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would ever give in his life, he suggested that his work on this earth might be cut short. Here's some of what he had to say on April 3, 1968 to striking garbage workers in Memphis, Tenn.

Well I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead.

But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.

And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life -- longevity has its place.

But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I've looked over. And I've seen ... the Promised Land.

I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!

So I'm happy tonight, I'm not worried about anything! I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!

Listening to his voice is much more powerful. Watch this:

King, of course, is best-known for his 'I have a Dream' speech, delivered Aug. 28, 1963 in Washington, D.C. while standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial. This YouTube video of it has been viewed more than three million times.

Now watch this news clip that has King speaking in Memphis more than 4½ years later. Note the anger and defiance in his voice, how he appeared to have moved away from merely appealing to our better nature ("let us not satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred") as he did in 1963.

Somewhere, I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere, I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere, I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere, I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right!  So just as I say we aren't going to let any dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't gonna let any injunction turn us around!

He had lost his 'media darling' status by speaking out against the Vietnam War long before it was fashionable to do so. Here's audio of an excerpt from a pivotal April 4, 1967 speech:

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Another quote from that speech is this:

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

How else did he manage to piss opinion-makers off? Maybe by saying things like this:

Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America to be his messianic force to be a sort-of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems I can hear God saying to America: "You're too arrogant! If you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I'll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn't even know my name. Be still and know I'm God."

He even suggested that capitalism could be unjust and launched the Poor People's Campaign in 1968. It's one thing to call for people to be judged on the content of their character and not the colour of their skin, but quite another to to question capitalism. You're just not being a team player when you do that.

There's no question King was a dreamer, and by articulating his dreams so brilliantly and leading people to act on them, helped make the United States a better country, although it still has problems. He paid a price for that. This is what's written on a plaque pointing up at the balcony of the Lorraine Motel's Room 306, where a bullet struck King at 6:01 p.m. that fateful day 40 years ago:

And when his brothers saw him they said one to another, 'behold the dreamer cometh,' come now and slay him…and we shall see what will become of his dreams. (Genesis 37:18-20)