I think it's always in order to engage in constructive dialogue, even when you may not get any results.
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.
The appalling racial injustice inherent in the Trayvon Martin tragedy reminds us that there is still much to do.
And if we truly want a strong and secure middle class, we must restore the ability of labor unions to organize and represent working people.
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.
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.
When my father articulated his vision for the future, he expressed his wish that one day his children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. This dream was not just about me and my siblings, but about our children and their children.
I was 10 years old when my father was assassinated in 1968. Then, I had some sense of the sacrifices and hardships required of the families of a leader who was constantly in the news.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
America has an obligation to secure its borders, but it is wrong to pass laws that treat human beings as something less than human. If my father were alive, he would be in the forefront of the struggle for a fair and humane reform of our immigration laws.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an impassioned advocate of economic justice as well as social justice.
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.
Our kids are reflections of us. How we interact with others, even in a hostile situation... how we respond and our children see that is how they are going to respond.
