It was a hot summer, even for Mississippi, and King had had weeks to prepare this speech, but for some reason he dillydallied. If he was betting on rising to the occasion, he lost that bet. People in attendance that day remember the speech as “the opposite of a shining moment” and “terrible.” Abernathy’s Reverend Fulton Slocum dismissed it as “a total waste of everyone’s time.” While there is no medical proof, King scholars have ascribed his complete oratorical failure to “possibly low blood sugar” or “simply the greatest brain fart ever.” Here, then, is a transcript of Martin Luther King Jr.’s worst speech ever. LOOK UPON THINE FLYING EYEBALLS by M.L.K. JR. As transcribed, verbatim, from the actual event. Uhh. Um. Hello. Hi. I was not told I would be speaking today, but, I guess—I’m Martin Luther King, I’m invited to a church, should’ve put two and two together. [To himself] You can do this, King, come on, get it together. [To the crowd] We stand together today, all of us, black and white.
