[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 4 (Saturday, January 6, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E20-E21]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, January 6, 2001

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, in just a few days we Americans will be 
commemorating the birthday of one of the outstanding citizens of the 
20th century. I was pleased many years ago to be one of the original 
sponsors of the legislation making his birthday a national holiday, and 
I urge all Americans to commemorate January 15th with appropriate 
ceremonies.
  We should all avail ourselves of this opportunity to once again honor 
the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With it now being 
nearly 33 years since his life was senselessly snuffed out by an 
assassin in Memphis, Tennessee, it is more important than ever that all 
Americans, especially our young people who have no personal 
recollection of Dr. King's moral leadership, are reminded of his 
significant contributions and his message.
  Regrettably, many Americans view Martin Luther King Day as a holiday 
just for African-Americans. Reverend King would have been the first 
person to repudiate that attitude, for his message was for all people, 
of all races, creeds, colors and backgrounds. His message is universal 
and should be heeded by all citizens of America and, in fact, all 
citizens of the world.
  Dr. King contributed more to the causes of national freedom and 
equality than any other individual of the 20th century. His 
achievements as an author and as a minister were surpassed only by his 
leadership, which transformed a torn people into a beacon of strength 
and solidarity, and united a divided nation under a common creed of 
brotherhood and mutual prosperity.
  It was Dr. King's policy of nonviolent protest which served to open 
the eyes of our Nation

[[Page E21]]

to the horrors of discrimination and police brutality. This policy 
revealed the Jim Crow laws of the South as hypocritical and unfair, and 
forced civil rights issues into the national dialectic. It is due to 
the increased scope and salience of the national civil rights 
discussion that the movement achieved so much during its decade of our 
greatest accomplishment, from 1957 to 1968.
  It was in 1955 that Dr. King made his first mark on our nation, when 
he organized the black community of Montgomery, Alabama during a 382-
day boycott of the city's bus lines. The boycott saw Dr. King and many 
other civil rights activists incarcerated as ``agitators,'' but their 
efforts were rewarded in 1956, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared 
that the segregation practices of the Alabama bus system were 
unconstitutional, and demanded that blacks be allowed to ride with 
equal and indistinguishable rights. The result proved the theory of 
nonviolent protest in practice, and roused our Nation to the 
possibilities to be found through peace and perseverance.
  In 1963, Dr. King and his followers faced their most ferocious test, 
when they set a massive civil rights protest in motion in Birmingham, 
Alabama. The protest was met with brute force by the local police, and 
many innocent men and women were injured through the violent response. 
However, the strength of the police department worked against the 
forces of discrimination in the nation, as many Americans came to 
sympathize with the plight of the blacks through the sight of their 
irrational and inhumane treatment.
  By August of 1963 the civil rights movement had achieved epic 
proportions, and it was in a triumphant and universal air that Dr. King 
gave his memorable ``I Have a Dream'' speech on the steps of the 
Lincoln Memorial. In the next year, Dr. King was distinguished as Time 
magazine's Man of the Year for 1963, and he would later be awarded the 
Nobel Peace Prize for 1964.
  Throughout his remaining years, Dr. King continued to lead our nation 
toward increased peace and unity. He spoke out against the Vietnam war, 
and led our Nation's War on Poverty. To Dr. King the international 
situation was inextricably linked to the domestic, and thus it was only 
through increased peace and prosperity at home that tranquility would 
be ensured abroad.
  When Dr. King was gunned down in 1968 he had already established 
himself as a national hero and pioneer. As the years passed his message 
continued to gather strength and direction, and it is only in the light 
of his multi-generational influence that the true effects of his ideas 
can be measured. Dr. King was a man who lacked neither vision nor the 
means and courage to express it. His image of a strong and united 
nation overcoming the obstacles of poverty and inequality continues to 
provide us with an ideal picture of the ``United'' states which still 
fills the hearts of Americans with feelings of brotherhood and a common 
purpose for years to come.
  Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to bear in mind the 
courageous, dedicated deeds of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and to 
join together on Monday, January 15, 2001, in solemn recollection of 
his significant contributions for enhancing human rights throughout our 
nation and throughout the world.

                          ____________________