Not quite.
According to this list he only held two speeches in 1961:
- The Modern Negro Activist (text)
- The Negro and the American Dream (text)
Neither of which contain said quote.
However, as Mohammad Patrick Ročka pointed out:
The quote above is paraphrased, and mixing up Dr. King's statements
about New York and St. Louis Here is the real quote starting with the
second sentence of this section extracted from of Dr. King's speech
given 57 years ago ( 5 December 1957 “Some Things We Must Do,” Address
Delivered at the 2nd Annual Institute on Nonviolence , Montgomery,
Ala. )
"Let us be honest with ourselves, and say that we, our standards have
lagged behind at many points. Negroes constitute ten percent of the
population of New York City, and yet they commit thirty-five percent
of the crime. St. Louis, Missouri: the Negroes constitute twenty-six
percent of the population, and yet seventy-six percent of the persons
on the list for aid to dependent children are Negroes. We have eight
times more illegitimacy than white persons. We’ve got to face all of
these things. We must work to improve these standards. We must sit
down quietly by the wayside, and ask ourselves: “Where can we
improve?” What are the things that white people are saying about us?
They say that we want integration because we want to marry white
people. Well, we know that is a falsehood. (That’s right) We know
that. We don’t have to worry about that. (All right) Then on the other
hand, they say some other things about us, and maybe there is some
truth in them. Maybe we could be more sanitary; maybe we could be a
little more clean. You may not have enough money to take a weekend
trip to Paris, France, and buy all of the fascinating and enticing
perfumes. You may not be able to do that, but you are not so poor that
you cannot buy a five cents bar of soap (Yeah) so that you can wash
before [word inaudible]. [applause] And another thing my friends, we
kill each other too much. (All right, yes) We cut up each other too
much. (Yes, Yes sir) There is something that we can do. We’ve got to
go down in the quiet hour and think about this thing. We’ve got to
lift our moral standards at every hand, at every point. You may not
have a Ph.D. degree; you may not have an M.A. degree; you may not have
an A.B. degree. But the great thing about life is that any man can be
good, and honest, and ethical, and moral, and can have character.
(Well, Yes) [applause] We must walk the street every day, and let
people know that as we walk the street, we aren’t thinking about sex
every time we turn around. (No, That’s right) We are not animals (No)
to be degraded at every moment. (Yeah) We know that we’re made for the
stars, created for eternity, born for the everlasting (Yes), and we
stand by it. [applause] (All right, All right) There are some things
that we can do. (Yes) We must improve our standards (Yeah); improve
our conduct; we must improve our sanitary conditions; we must even
improve our cultural standards. There are many things that we can do.
Opportunities are open now that were not open in the past, adult
education and all of these things-we must take advantage of them.
(Yeah) There are things that we can do to make ourselves respected by
others. Let me rush on. There’s a third thing we must do, that we can
do. We must achieve excellency in our various fields of activity and
our various fields of endeavor. This is a new day, and that simply
means that doors are opening now that were not open in the past.
Opportunities stand before us now that did not stand before us in the
past. And the great challenge before the Negro at this hour is to be
ready to enter these doors as they open. (Yes, All right) Ralph Waldo
Emerson said in an essay back in 1871 that if a man can write a better
book or preach a better sermon or make a better mousetrap than his
neighbor, even if he builds his house in the woods, the world will
make a beaten path to his door.13 (Yes) We must get ready and do the
job, the opportunities will stand there for us."