Originally published January 18, 2008 at 12:00 am Updated January 19, 2008 at 4:47 pm (Yes, sir) Glory, hallelujah! Not long, Matt Chandler’s 2012 sermon, God is for God may not be the best message he’s ever preached. Let us march on poverty (Let us march) until no American parent has to skip a meal so that their children may eat. His truth is marching on. (Uh huh) And I smiled to see in the newspaper photographs of many a decade ago, the faces so bright, so solemn, of our valiant heroes, the people of Montgomery. (Yes, sir) I know there is a cry today in Alabama, (Uh huh) we see it in numerous editorials: "When will Martin Luther King, SCLC, SNCC, and all of these civil rights agitators and all of the white clergymen and labor leaders and students and others get out of our community and let Alabama return to normalcy?". (Yes, sir) Let us march on segregated schools (Let us march, Tell it) until every vestige of segregated and inferior education becomes a thing of the past, and Negroes and whites study side-by-side in the socially-healing context of the classroom. James Weldon Johnson put it eloquently. Let us therefore continue our triumphant march (Uh huh) to the realization of the American dream. The burning of our churches will not deter us. (That’s right) O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! The wanton release of their known murderers would not discourage us. (Listen to him) That is what was known as the Populist Movement. (Yes, sir) The wanton release of their known murderers would not discourage us. Talk) but all the world today knows that we are here and we are standing before the forces of power in the state of Alabama saying, "We ain’t goin’ let nobody turn us around." In its simple, yet colorful, depiction (Yes, sir) of that great moment in biblical history, it tells us that: Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, (Tell it), Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, (Yes, sir), And the walls come tumbling down. To meet this threat, the southern aristocracy began immediately to engineer this development of a segregated society. Transcript. I have full confidence … Our God is marching On! I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth crushed to earth will rise again. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Our God is Marching On” speech resonates still . We are on the move now. Let us march on ballot boxes (Yes) until all over Alabama God’s children will be able to walk the earth in decency and honor. And so I plead with you this afternoon as we go ahead: remain committed to nonviolence. J. Edgar Hoover: They discussed that after it was over, if the woman died, they were going to throw the guns into the blast furnace where they worked in those steel mills down there. The burning of our churches will not deter us. And there were those who said that we would get here only over their dead bodies, but all the world today knows that we are here and we are standing before the forces of power in the state of Alabama saying, 'We ain’t goin’ let nobody turn us around'... Today I want to tell the city of Selma, today I want to say to the state of Alabama, today I want to say to the people of America and the nations of the world, that we are not about to turn around. (No) There are no broad highways that lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; (Yes, sir) The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us. O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! White America was profoundly aroused by Birmingham because it witnessed the whole community of Negroes facing terror and brutality with majestic scorn and heroic courage. Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." But he's one of these people that we put in, just like we do into the Communist party, so they'll keep us informed. Glory, hallelujah! Racial segregation as a way of life did not come about as a natural result of hatred between the races immediately after the Civil War. Wrong forever on the throne, Somebody’s asking, "When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, (Speak, speak, speak) plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? Thank you so much. (Speak, sir) The leaders of this movement began awakening the poor white masses (Yes, sir) and the former Negro slaves to the fact that they were being fleeced by the emerging Bourbon interests. Not long, because Not long, (All right. Glory, hallelujah! Read the full speech transcript here. (Yes, sir) The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us. Well) Out of this struggle, more than bus [de]segregation was won; a new idea, more powerful than guns or clubs was born. (Yes, sir) Glory, hallelujah! A president born in the South (Well) had the sensitivity to feel the will of the country, (Speak, sir) and in an address that will live in history as one of the most passionate pleas for human rights ever made by a president of our nation, he pledged the might of the federal government to cast off the centuries-old blight. And there were those who said that we would get here only over their dead bodies, (Well. (Yes, sir. (Yes, sir) He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; (Speak, sir) He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding. (Yes, sir) The only normalcy that we will settle for is the normalcy of brotherhood, the normalcy of true peace, the normalcy of justice.