You know, several years ago, I was in New York City.
It was a dark Saturday afternoon.
A demented black woman came up.
The only question I heard from her was...
"Are you Martin Luther King?"
And I said, "Yes."
The next minute I felt something beating on my chest.
[Police sirens]
Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman.
[Police sirens]
That blade...
...had gone through...
and the X-rays revealed...
...the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta.
The main artery.
And once that's punctured...
...you drowned in your own blood.
That's the end of you.
It came out in the NY Times the next morning...
...that if I had merely sneezed...
...I would have died.
After my chest had been opened and the blade had been taken out...
...from all over the states and the world...
...kind letters came in.
One of them I will never forget.
I had received one from the President and the Vice-President.
I've forgotten what those telegrams said.
I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York.
But I've forgotten what that letter said.
But there was another letter.
It came from a little girl.
It said simply, "Dear Dr. King..."
"While it should not matter, I would like to mention..."
"I'm a white girl."
"I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze."
And I want to say tonight --
I want to say tonight that I too am happy that I didn't sneeze.
Because if I had sneezed,
I wouldn't have been around here to 1960.
When students all over the South...
...started sitting-in at lunch counters.
And I knew that as they were sitting in...
...they were really standing up!
For the best in the American Dream.
Taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy...
...which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers...
...in the Declaration of Independence...
...and the Constitution.
If I had sneezed...
I wouldn't have been around here to 1961.
When we decided to take a ride for freedom.
And ended segregation in interstate travel.
If I had sneezed...
I wouldn't have been around here in 1962.
When Negroes in Albany, Georgia,...
...decided to straighten their backs up!
And whenever men and women straighten their backs up...
They are going somewhere!
Because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent!
If I had sneezed!
I wouldn't have been here in 1963
When the black people of Birmingham, Alabama...
...aroused the conscience of this nation.
And brought into being the Civil Rights Bill.
If I had sneezed...
I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August...
...to try to tell America...!
....about a dream that I had had!
If I had sneezed!
I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama!
To see the great Movement there!
If I had sneezed...
I wouldn't have been in Memphis.
To see a community rally!
Around those brothers and sisters who are suffering.
I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.
Like anybody, I would like to live.
But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will.
So I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
My eyes have seen the glory...
...of the coming of the Lord!