The Hill News

The dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial provides an opportunity to reflect and rededicate ourselves to Dr. King’s work. The ceremony on August 28 will serve as a homecoming for the generations of Americans, and indeed people of every nation, who heeded Dr. King’s call to believe, work, and dream of justice and equality. We will gather to honor the sacrifices of all those millions who have marched, bled, and died â€" including Dr. King â€" in the struggle for equality and equal justice under law.

Part of the greatness of Dr. King was his ability to convert a mass political movement into an opportunity for an individual awakening. As a young lawyer in Detroit, he inspired me to go south to join the crusade against Jim Crow segregation. It was through this work that I first met Rosa Parks, who ultimately was forced to leave Montgomery after the successful bus boycott to seek better economic opportunity. Ms. Parks joined my first campaig! n for Congress, and I was honored when she helped secure an endorsement from Dr. King, one of the few he ever made.

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