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.
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.
It's going to take all of us rolling up our sleeves to make America the America that it must become.
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.
Some people need a targeted kind of learning. They need a different approach, like charter schools. There are virtual classrooms that some will do well in. The reality is, if there are no options, if there is just one particular standard, then someone is going to fall through the cracks, as we've seen.
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.
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.
The true way generally when people don't understand your plight is when you decide to exercise your buying power elsewhere.
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.
