I have been to the mountaintop...

Martin Luther King Jr is a hero of mine.

He had a belief in the dignity of man and made this real through his practice of nonviolence as a means of social change.

Forty years ago today, he gave his "I have been to the mountaintop" speech to sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who were trying to start a union. He didn't equivocate on the relative importance of civil, political or economic rights. He knew they all mattered.

The full text and audio of the speech is available online. It is powerful stuff.

But the last minute of the speech is something else. It is chillingly prophetic.

It was the last speech he ever gave.

Forty years ago tomorrow, he was assassinated.

Here's a video excerpt of that final minute of oratory.