JOINT CENTER News Room
Everett Recalls King’s Vision on Anniversary of Slain Leader’s Assassination
April 4, 2008
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Everett Recalls King’s Vision on Anniversary of Slain Leader’s Assassination
Statement of Ralph B. Everett
President and CEO
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
On the Anniversary of the Death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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While the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. evokes deeply troubling memories, it also serves as an important milestone in assessing the progress this nation has made and how far we must yet go to transform America in the way that Dr. King envisioned.
For many people, the passing of four decades has not diminished the memory of how difficult and uncertain those times were. In my hometown of Orangeburg, South Carolina, the tragic and untimely death of Dr. King intensified the sense of despair and unease that many of us already felt after the February 8, 1968, shooting by law enforcement officers of three unarmed students, including my high school classmate Delano Middleton, during a protest at South Carolina State College against a segregated bowling alley. This became known as the Orangeburg Massacre.
In those dark days we wondered, how would the dream survive without Dr. King to lead us toward the Promised Land?
But history records that sadness and anxiety gave way to determination and action. Dr. King’s spirit continued to guide the movement as African Americans began to concentrate on the everyday task of translating hard won rights into representation and influence in our system of governance in order to secure justice under the law, greater opportunity and an America that lives up to its historic promise.
The Joint Center was founded for this purpose and played a critical role in the ensuing progress. Today, we honor Dr. King for his bequest of a legacy and a dream that did not die with him, but rather has served as a lodestar for all that has been accomplished since the tragic day of his assassination.
We also recognize there is much to be done – just as Dr. King did when, in the wake of historic gains in civil and voting rights, he sought to direct our attention to the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation, so that justice could truly prevail and opportunity could flow to every American. On this day and in his memory, let us commemorate Dr. King’s vision and, at the same time, invigorate ourselves with resolve and forbearance to make his dream a reality from sea to shining sea.
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