Statement by President Bill Clinton on Martin Luther King Day

Statement and photo courtesy of  the William J. Clinton Foundation.

President Clinton with Harlem high school students.

"Dr. Martin Luther King once wrote that nonviolence means ‘not only avoiding external physical violence but also internal violence of the spirit.’ Today as we honor what would have been Dr. King’s 82nd birthday a little more than a week after a shooter took the lives of six people and wounded 13 others in Arizona, including a member of Congress, we’d all do well to heed this message. While no one intends their words or actions to incite the violence we saw in Tucson — and it’s wrong for anyone to suggest otherwise — we live in a world where what we say and how we say it can be read, heard, or seen by those who understand exactly what we mean and by those whose inner demons take them to a very different place.

That’s not an argument against free speech, but a reminder that, as with all freedoms, its use carries with it responsibility. Therefore, we should follow the example Dr. King set and exercise our freedom of speech in ways that both clarify our honest differences and nurture the best of us rather than bring out the worst. We must not let our political differences degenerate into demonization. Our opponents are just as convinced they’re right as we are. And we must constantly reaffirm the conviction that our common humanity is more important than our differences.

That’s why America’s founders established as our permanent mission the formation of a more perfect union. That’s why Dr. King reminded us that we are all caught up in an ‘inescapable web of mutuality.’ That’s why he taught us to remember that, in the face of evil, only light can push out darkness and only love can push out hate. Living those lessons is something we can all do to honor Rep. Gabby Giffords and the other victims of the tragedy in Tucson."