King's life is well summed up in his own words: "The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important. IRVINE, Calif. Obama leading us toward the presidency is like the Promised Land for us."ĭr. "I never thought in my lifetime that I would see one of us aspiring to be the head of our nation," said Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest sister, Dr. President, is just finishing his second term in office. And even as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and enormous contribution to society, Barack Obama, the first ever African-American U.S. In the fullness of time, segregationist laws were repealed, discrimination is a legally punishable – and punished – offence. King was thirty nine years old when he died by an assassin's bullet on April 4th, 1968. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis delivers remarks during Memorial Day ceremonies at. It is a moment of collective reflection on the noble sacrifices of those who gave the last measure of devotion in service of our ideals and in the defense of our nation. Thus, when a black seamstress named Rosa Parks broke the law in Montgomery, Alabama, by refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, and subsequently was jailed for her transgression, her plight generated national attention and increasing sympathy for her cause across the country.ĭr. Memorial Day is our nations solemn reminder that freedom is never free. King once stated that "an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."Īnd so, activists sometimes deliberately, but peacefully and respectfully, broke laws aimed at segregating the white citizenry from the non-white, thus hoping to bring attention to the inherent unfairness of such legislation. King organized and participated in mass-action boycotts, sit-ins, peaceful marches and other non-violent acts of civil disobedience.ĭr. On January 15th, he would have celebrated his 88th birthday.īelieving that "change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle," Dr. Civil Rights Movement, advocating social change through non-violent means. King, a Baptist minister from the southern state of Alabama, was a leader in the U.S. On the third Monday of each January, Americans honor the memory of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
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