[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 41 (Tuesday, April 4, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H1398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REMEMBERING MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 31, 2006, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, 38 years ago Martin Luther King, 
Jr., was taken by from us by an assassin's bullets. He had gone to 
Memphis, Tennessee to call for economic justice for working people in 
America and for the sanitation workers there.
  Mr. Speaker, it is difficult for me to find the right words to 
express my feelings about Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a man, my 
friend. He was my inspiration, my leader, my colleague, and my brother.
  Martin Luther King, Jr., more than any other American of the 20th 
century had the power to bring people together to do good, black and 
white, rich and poor, young and old, Protestant, Catholic and Jews.
  He could inspire with his words, with his vision, and his leadership. 
He could fill ordinary people with the extraordinary vision that they 
had the power to build a new, more fair, more just America.
  His message was love. His weapon was truth. His method was creative 
nonviolence. And his goal, Mr. Speaker, was the Beloved Community, a 
community of justice, a Nation at peace with itself. In a sense he 
spoke a strange language, a philosophy of passive resistance to evil 
and the use of nonviolence in the struggle for good.
  He was far too advanced in his concepts of love and peace for the 
violent times in which he lived, perhaps too advanced for us to 
understand even today. But, Mr. Speaker, the assassins of Martin Luther 
King, Jr., did not kill the dream of peace. They did not kill the dream 
of an open society. They did not kill the dream of a Beloved Community.
  The movement that Martin Luther King, Jr., led was too right. It was 
too necessary to be buried with his body. We know that his voice was 
stilled 38 years ago today, but his message of love, of peace, and of 
the good society continue to resonate all around the world.
  Mr. Speaker, we here in the people's House, we know that Dr. King's 
dream has not been fulfilled. But that is why it must be our task to 
renew our commitment to the values of his vision, the values of peace, 
love and justice.
  If Dr. King were here today he would say we must find a way to 
support courageous legislation, legislation that will redirect the 
priorities and the tremendous resources of this Nation, not to oppress 
but to uplift, not to divide but to bring together, not to enslave but 
to set free. He would say we must use the resources of this great 
Nation, our talents, our minds, and our votes to work for the good of 
all humankind.
  Through the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., through his noble 
efforts, he injected new meaning and new dignity into the very veins of 
our society. We are a better people. We are a better Nation because he 
lived.

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