Martin Luther King III
Our obligation to fight pollution traces the roots of its persuasion to that same moral mountaintop from which my father lent his voice to the voiceless. The pursuit of civil equality in health helped build our environmental laws.Collection: Equality
In the fifty years since the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, we have made tremendous strides in the fight for equality. We must continue to move forward, not backward.Collection: Equality
Whether it is a tsunami, or whether it is a hurricane, whether it's an earthquake - when we see these great fatal and natural acts, men and women of every ethnic persuasion come together and they just want to help.Collection: Women
I'm totally against the death penalty - which, if anyone has a right to support, I do - because I do not see it as a deterrent to crime.Collection: Death
The Environmental Protection Agency's first-ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants will create clean- energy jobs, improve public health, bring greater reliability to our electric power grid, bolster our national security, demonstrate the United States' resolve to combat climate change and maybe even reduce our utility bills.Collection: Health
Many people of color live on the front lines of environmental hazard and harm.Collection: Environmental
You know, when you've idolized something, you put it on a shelf, lift it up, and when King Day comes out, you pull it out and show it. Or when Black History Month comes out, you show it, or when April 4th or other times, you show it. But, you see, Dad wouldn't want us to idolize.Collection: Dad
My mom and dad understood that every generation has to earn its freedom over and over again.Collection: Freedom
I think the best of us comes when we are working together collectively. And it doesn't mean that we can't disagree. We've got to learn, as Dad taught us, to disagree without being disagreeable.Collection: Dad
If we can live a day in peace, then why couldn't we live a week in peace? If we can master a week, why not a month? If we can master a month in peace, why not a year in peace? And if we can master a year, then certainly we can master a lifetime of peace as God's highest creation.Collection: Peace
I think dad would be very proud of young people standing up to promote truth, justice and equality.Collection: Equality
Because no matter who we are or where we come from, we're all entitled to the basic human rights of clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and healthy land to call home.Collection: Home
What I heard my mom always say was that, while she was never naive, she understood the FBI's intent was, obviously, to break up the family.
It would be wonderful to have a president who talked about bringing America together and exhibited that, who was involved in doing a social project... that would show humility.
My father's leadership was about more than civil rights. He was deeply concerned with human rights and world peace, and he said so on numerous occasions. He was a civil rights leader, true. But he was increasingly focused on human rights and a global concern and peace as an imperative.
The best way to overcome joblessness is to create a social contract between the public and private sectors to provide decent jobs for the unemployed. The decaying infrastructure of our cities is in urgent need of repair and restoration.
My dad was not a tall man, but he always made me feel like he was a giant. I was never afraid when I was with him.
I believe we should appoint a cabinet-level position that will be solely and fully devoted to ending poverty as we know it in America.
My dad was focused on trying to get a guaranteed annual income for all people in 1968, shortly before he was killed. He did not get to realize that dream.
No one in the planet can ever tell anyone else what they should do. For example, I do not go around the world trying to say somebody needs to be democratic.
No one can tell any nation what it should want. The nation should determine what they want and how to make their nation become as best as it can become - all of us want our nations to be the best of what they can become, for our children.
Had dad chosen to use violence he would have been immediately annihilated.
I would assume my father would support anything that lifted up and created opportunities for 'the least of these.'
According to who brings an issue to the table, people will get up and support it. It shouldn't be based on that. It should be based on whether the kids are performing or not.
If our education system does not continue to improve and be enhanced and be innovative and almost be revolutionary, then we will continue to lose our place in the world.
There's something wrong in a nation where six million black men are not allowed to vote because they were convicted of felonies. They've paid their dues to society, but yet their right to vote is not reinstated.
We've always had to bring some form of ID to vote. It's just that states have created new forms of ID that young folk and seniors and students and people of color, it makes it challenging to get.
The true way generally when people don't understand your plight is when you decide to exercise your buying power elsewhere.
The seminal right of the modern civil rights movement was the right to vote. My father fought so diligently for it. Certainly Congressman John Lewis and many others, Hosea Williams, fought for it as well.
And I think that, at some point, I am, as John Lewis and many others, are a bridge-builder. The goal is to bring America together and Americans. We are a great nation. But we must become a greater nation.
And what my father represented, my mother represented through her life, what I hope that I'm always trying to do is always bring people together.
My father would be very concerned about the environment. He'd be disappointed that we have hundreds of thousands and maybe even millions of people who are living out on the streets in the wealthiest nation on the planet. He'd be greatly disappointed because he would know that we can, and we must, do better.
As human beings, we are God's highest creation.
I think it's always in order to engage in constructive dialogue, even when you may not get any results.
The appalling racial injustice inherent in the Trayvon Martin tragedy reminds us that there is still much to do.
Reforms are needed to stem the tide of outsourcing good jobs to other nations and to educate and train American workers to meet the challenges of the 21st-century world economy.
Our challenge is to mobilize a new coalition of conscience to restore the Voting Rights Act, strengthen voting rights and broaden voter access in the legislatures of the 50 states.
The Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump will undoubtedly leave millions of Americans dissatisfied about the outcome, conviction or not. What must not happen, however, is millions of Americans feeling that the process itself violated the letter and spirit of our Constitution.
In terms of election issues, the urgent challenges we face include securing reforms to de-escalate the nuclear arms race, end voter suppression, improve health care for all Americans and alleviate the climate crisis.
Individuals cannot be free if there are impediments to reaching their full potential as human beings.
The March on Washington was a defining moment in the history of this country and a great example of our nation truly living up to its creed.
On March 7, 1965, some 600 civil rights activists marched in Selma, Alabama, demanding an end to racial discrimination. The demonstration was led by now-Rep. John Lewis and Hosea Williams, who worked with my father, Martin Luther King Jr.
African Americans are not going to be fooled by any group supported by industrial polluters. They know climate change is real and that we have to do something about it. Only 3 percent believe concern about climate change is overblown.
But there is just no way to adequately prepare a 10-year old for the sudden loss of a much-loved father. It was a confusing time, with many painful moments.
I'm sure my father would applaud the explosion of youth activism that has emerged in response to the gun violence pandemic. I'm certain my parents would agree it is gratifying to see young people leading social change projects in a multiracial coalition.
There is no one policy that can end gun violence. But a ban on the sale of assault weapons to the general public is a critical goal that must be achieved if we are ever going to have peaceful communities.
Climate change pries further apart the haves and have-nots.
I am humbled, gratified and overjoyed at the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in commemoration of my father's leadership. It of course means a lot to our family. But more important, it is a great step forward for America.
But my father also supported human rights, freedom and self-determination for all people, including Latino agricultural workers, Native Americans, and the millions of impoverished white men and women who were treated as second-class citizens.
Dad had a way of disarming people because he never really directly attacked them. He might attack a principle, but he never attacked the individual.