Dear Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, We have the same dream

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the great American civil rights leader, was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929.

The national holiday in his honor is the third Monday in January. The next one is Sunday, January 15, 2023.

Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership in nonviolent protest for civil rights helped move our country forward, but it wasn't enough.

We are still attacked for the color of our skin, and now for our surnames and accents.

The only way to achieve equality is to take power ourselves. In a democracy, we do this by voting, running for office, and taking the census.

Rev. Dr King said: “Until I firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself. I can't make up my mind – it's made for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws that I helped enact, I can only submit to the edict of others."

"Until I firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself."

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

May the spirit of Rev. Dr. King lead us to the polls.

Register to vote (NGO vote.org)

And if the police won't stop abusing and killing us, then we have to become the police. This is how the Irish-Americans of New York overcame their struggle. The NYPD is still run primarily by Irish Americans.

martin luther king day

Martin Luther King Day celebrates the birthday of the great American on January 15, 1929. The federal holiday is the third Monday in January. Many of us have the day off, but what does that mean?

I think about him every year, and every year I understand something more. When I started a few years ago, I wondered why I didn't know more about this American legend.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a great man, so he will mean different things to different people. Three things stand out for me.

Nonviolence

One of his positions is non-violence. No one has learned anything by looking at the barrel of a gun.

Violence only breeds more violence. We must be greater than those who turn to violence. Rev. Dr. King's stance on non-violence was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi.

Education

The second is education. He's not just Martin Luther King, Jr., he's Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. His title comes from a doctorate in theology from Boston University.

Education gave Reverend Dr. King the opportunity to grow and develop his ideas.

Never give up on your dream

The third thing that stands out about Reverend Dr. King is that he never gave up on his dream. Sometimes he succeeded and sometimes he failed, but he kept going.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech

Rev. Dr. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963. It was the anniversary of the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955.

Listen to Reverend Dr. King. It's not about anyone being better than anyone, or any sort of exclusion. It's about Black and White and everyone together in a "symphony of brotherhood".

I, too, dream of people not being judged by the color of their skin, nor by their surname, language or accent, nor by their place of birth, social or immigration status, but by the content of their character.

I thank Reverend Dr. King for standing up for his community when it was unpopular, even dangerous to do so.

As a multiracial person born, raised, and educated in the United States,...