[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 7 (Friday, January 12, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S504-S505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, this Monday we will celebrate the 
life and legacy of one of America's greatest heroes, the Reverend 
Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Dr. King dreamt of an America where, as he so profoundly put it, all 
of America's children would be judged not by the color of their skin, 
but by the content of their character. By sharing his dream with the 
rest of us, Dr. King literally awoke a nation.
  I remind my colleagues this also will be the first observance of 
Martin Luther King Day when his lovely wife, Coretta Scott King, is no 
longer with us. She kept the dream alive after Dr. King's tragic 
assassination in 1968. With her passing last year, we lost the first 
lady of America's civil rights movement.
  I remember all too well the days before Dr. King and the civil rights 
movement lit a fire across this country. Many parts of America were 
split into two separate nations, and they were certainly not equal. As 
a child growing up in Alabama and later in Kentucky, I remember 
segregated lunch counters. I remember separate water fountains.
  I am proud to say that as a young man I was present for not just one 
but two significant events in the life of Dr. King. On August 28, 
1963--a Wednesday, without a cloud in the sky--more than 200,000 people 
gathered on the Mall here in Washington to protest racial inequality 
and to hear Dr. King give what would be his most remembered speech.
  I was an intern at the time for Congressman Gene Snyder of Kentucky, 
and so I went outside and stood on the Capitol steps.
  I could see up the length of the entire Mall, and see the crowd that 
had gathered there. I supported Dr. King and his cause, and wanted to 
witness what I knew would be a pivotal point in history.
  What none of us knew at the time, Mr. President, is that history was 
almost denied hearing Dr. King say, ``I have a dream.'' His scripted 
remarks for that day did not include the stirring conclusion to his 
speech.
  But when he was about to conclude his remarks and sit down, the 
gospel singer Mahalia Jackson cried out, ``Tell them about your dream, 
Martin! Tell them about the dream!''
  So Dr. King drew from his past speeches and sermons, and in the 
shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, he issued the greatest declaration of 
freedom since Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation a century 
earlier.
  Dr. King's words moved a nation. And the next summer I returned to 
Washington to intern for the great Kentucky Senator John Sherman 
Cooper. That year, Senator Cooper worked hard to pass the Civil Rights 
Act of 1964.
  After my internship, I went on to the University of Kentucky School 
of Law, and returned to Washington in August of 1965 to pay my old boss 
and mentor a visit. It is thanks to him that I had my second 
encounter--not exactly close up, but my second encounter with Dr. King.
  All that summer, Senator Cooper had been a key proponent of the 1965 
Voting Rights Act, and on August 4 it passed the Senate and was sent to 
President Johnson for his signature.
  As I sat waiting for the Senator, he suddenly emerged from his office 
and

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motioned for me to follow him. He led me to the Capitol Rotunda, where 
President Johnson was about to sign the Voting Rights Act.
  I'll never forget the President's sheer physical presence in that 
room. The room was packed with people, but LBJ was bigger than anyone 
in there. Every good history book describes him as a larger-than-life, 
imposing man, and they are all correct. His commanding figure almost 
filled the rotunda.
  But there was another figure there, not as large but just as 
significant.
  Here in this Capitol, Dr. King stood by the President and witnessed 
the signing of the Voting Rights Act--an act that would not have gained 
America's support without his efforts.
  With its enactment, the promise of the 14th amendment, extending the 
franchise to newly freed slaves, was finally realized. Sadly, it was a 
hundred years too late.
  I do not believe this country's march towards liberty and equality, 
and away from racial injustice and division, would have been possible 
without Dr. King.
  It would not have been possible without his leadership of the 
Montgomery bus boycott, which first began to ignite what he called ``a 
certain kind of fire that no water could put out.''
  It would not have been possible without his plea to America in front 
of the Lincoln Memorial, when he said:

       I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and 
     live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths 
     to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

  It would not have been possible without his enlisting all of us, 
Black and White, in the cause of freedom when he said, ``Human progress 
never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the 
tireless efforts of men.''
  Dr. King's faith and courage continue to inspire America. Like Moses, 
he led his people from the dark night of bondage to the promised land.
  Through courage, Dr. King persevered even in the face of death. 
Constant threats were made on his life. Many times his travel plans 
were interrupted by bomb threats.
  No one would have blamed Dr. King if, fearing for his life, he had 
retreated from public view. But he refused to.
  In 1958 in Harlem, a woman stabbed him in the chest with a letter 
opener, and the blade came so close to his heart that doctors told the 
reverend that if he had even sneezed, he would have died.
  Dr. King recalled that attack 10 years later in Memphis, in what 
would be his final speech. ``I am so glad that I didn't sneeze,'' he 
told a crowd of 2,000. ``I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live 
in this period to see what is unfolding.''
  Dr. King would die in hours, not from a letter opener, but from an 
assassin's bullet. As he spoke, it seemed he knew his fate was 
preordained, and he was at peace with it.
  ``I've seen the promised land,'' Dr. King continued. ``I may not get 
there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, 
will get to the promised land. And I'm happy tonight.''
  America has traveled far since the civil rights movement, to reach 
that promised land. It's been a difficult journey, and the journey is 
not yet over.
  Dr. King said:

       I am convinced that the universe is under the control of a 
     loving purpose, and that in the struggle for righteousness, 
     man has cosmic companionship. Behind the harsh appearance of 
     the world there is a benign power.

  Those words serve to remind us that no matter the difficulty or the 
distance of our journey, our destination is clear, thanks to the 
foundation laid by Dr. King. That destination is liberty and justice 
for all.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on Monday, our Nation honors the life and 
legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a national hero and man 
whose words and deeds brought hope and healing to America.
  We commemorate the timeless values he taught us through his example--
the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility 
and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King's character and 
revolutionary spirit. Dr. King's belief in the strength of nonviolence 
was not merely aspirational--though surely it spoke to our aspirations 
as a nation--but it gave his leadership a unique power that resonates 
to this day.
  I am grateful for this holiday because it is a reminder to listen 
again to Dr. King's inspiring words and to let the children and 
grandchildren of those who remember Dr. King hear his voice that filled 
a great void in our Nation and answered our collective longing to 
become a country that truly lived by its noblest principles.
  A few months ago, we broke ground on a memorial to honor Dr. King. At 
first glance, it may seem a bit out of place that Dr. King's memorial 
will be located on our National Mall--a place adorned with memorials to 
America's greatest Presidents and wartime heroes. Dr. King was neither 
a President of the United States nor a hero in a foreign war. He never 
even held public office. Yet he deserves his place in the pantheon of 
great American leaders because lead a Nation he did. Through words, he 
gave voice to the voiceless. Through deeds, he gave courage to the 
faint of heart. Through his bravery and courage, he endured tremendous 
hardships--he was beaten and jailed 29 times, his family was 
threatened, his home was fire bombed, and he was placed under 
surveillance by the FBI--yet he overcame these hurdles and ignited a 
movement that would lead to historic reforms.
  In his famous ``I Have a Dream'' speech, Dr. King noted that ``[w]hen 
the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the 
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a 
promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.'' And it was 
thanks to the work of great civil rights leaders like Dr. King and his 
wife Coretta Scott King, whom we lost a year ago and whom we honored in 
reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act, that Jim Crow segregation was 
uprooted, and legal barriers to the full participation of racial 
minorities in the political life of the Nation were removed.
  Yet, as I was reminded last year during our many hearings on the 
reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act and again by accounts of voter 
suppression during the recent midterm elections, the work of the Voting 
Rights Act is not yet complete and the dream of Dr. King has not yet 
been fully realized. And so we must not only honor Dr. King's vision by 
remembering him this week, but we must also continue our work to make 
his dream a reality.
  Dr. King's own words remind us that this holiday is not merely a 
celebration of a particular time in American history but also a living 
legacy to the value of service. Dr. King once said that we all have to 
decide whether we ``will walk in the light of creative altruism or the 
darkness of destructive selfishness. Life's most persistent and nagging 
question, he said, is `what are you doing for others?'''
  On this day, we must urge our children and grandchildren to abide by 
Dr. King's message that if they serve our country and strive for what 
is just, they can remake a nation and transform a world.

                          ____________________