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King's Son Visits UCO for Speech

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Judy Gibbs, The Daily Oklahoman

Mar. 1--EDMOND -- If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive, he would be pleased with progress toward civil rights but disappointed by growing levels of poverty and violence, his oldest son said Tuesday night at the University of Central Oklahoma.

In a speech that was rescheduled after the Jan. 31 death of his mother, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King III measured America's progress toward achieving his famous father's dream of a society without poverty, racism or violence.

"We have achieved components of his dream, but there are many areas where we are still devoid," he said. "It doesn't mean we have not made great strides. It means we still have a long way to go."

King, president and chief executive officer of the King Center in Atlanta, warned he still was grieving his mother's death and asked for understanding.

"Every now and then, a tear is shed. If it happens tonight, please bear with us," King said.

Poverty was one of the social ills his father sought to eradicate; instead, it has spread, he said. Today, 36 million Americans live in poverty in a nation with a $2.7 trillion federal budget.

"There's something wrong with that," King said.

King Jr. was famously dedicated to nonviolent resolution of conflict, yet violence permeates American society today, his son said.

Children are bombarded with violent messages in cartoons, television programs and movies, while our government seeks peace through war, he said.

"How crazy is that?" King asked. "What I'm saying is maybe there's a different and better way to fight terrorism."

Nor is racism eradicated, although many like to believe it is, he said..

He challenged college students today to give back and get involved.

"We can, in fact, live in a nation where love and peace and harmony exist. But you have to believe that," he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Daily Oklahoman

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Source: The Daily Oklahoman

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