Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.