[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 16, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S186]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            REMEMBERING THE REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I wish to celebrate the life and 
legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday the Nation 
celebrated yesterday. Dr. King once said: ``The ultimate measure of a 
man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but 
where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.'' These words 
are a specter, speaking to us now as though written for political 
moments precisely like the one we find ourselves in today. These words 
reflect the wisdom and tenacity of a man who deftly shaped his own 
moment and made our country better, fairer, and more just in the 
process.
  Dr. King was a remarkable figure, perhaps most of all because he was 
an ordinary man--a husband and a father like so many others--who made 
extraordinary choices. In the face of a society that told him he must 
sit down, he chose to take a stand. In the face of evil and systemic 
bigotry, he chose to embody the tenets of love and peace. In the face 
of improbable odds, he chose to fight. As a result, his legacy of 
tolerance, respect, and equality is forever cemented in the very 
foundation of this country, and we are all the better for it.
  Right up until the moment his life was taken from him, 50 years ago 
this year, Dr. King fought for an equal society, an equitable society, 
wherein we would judge one another not by the color of each other's 
skin, but by the content of our character. He was a shining beacon for 
all those who had come before him and all those who would come after, 
who, at tremendous risk to their own lives and livelihoods, have fought 
ceaselessly in the name of civil rights, fair wages, the eradication of 
poverty, and the right of all Americans to vote.
  His wisdom still guides us even now, so many decades removed from his 
time here. When, in the 2013 case Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme 
Court dismantled the Voting Rights Act that Dr. King was instrumental 
in passing, many of us vowed to persevere, to pass new legislation, 
knowing that is what Dr. King would have expected and would have done 
himself. Discriminatory practices such as voter identification 
requirements have made a resurgence in recent years, making it more 
difficult for citizens to exercise their most basic, fundamental right. 
Bigoted, hateful rhetoric has sadly continued into our lifetime, 
threatening the livelihoods and the dignity of people of color all 
across America. Misunderstanding of those from other countries or 
backgrounds all too often guides our politics, and fringe groups are 
all too often successful in stoking that fear into hate.
  Despite all of this, I am optimistic about our future because, as Dr. 
King put it best, ``The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends 
toward justice.'' That is the other half of Dr. King's legacy: hope--
pure, undiluted, undeterred. We have tremendous challenges before us, 
just as he did then. I am hopeful when I watch Dreamers march on the 
U.S. Capitol, asking us to live up to our own promise as a nation. I am 
hopeful when I see women of all races, creeds, orientations, and 
backgrounds rally together as one, demanding to be heard, to be 
believed, to be counted. I am hopeful when I watch Black Lives Matter 
organize incredible, peaceful protests, keeping us all accountable, and 
I am hopeful when I see Americans of all different stripes join them.
  Today both Dr. King's message and methods are as relevant as ever. He 
lives on in the footfall of peacefully marching protesters and in every 
word spoken in opposition to inequality and injustice. He lives on in 
the diversity of our college campuses and the all-too-slow, but steady, 
representation of people of color in our government. He lives on in all 
the ordinary men and women of this country who, every day, make 
extraordinary choices, like meeting hate with love, and the darkness of 
our troubled times with the light of their own hope.
  Even in difficult times, through violence and denial, Dr. King 
maintained his dream, and as he said in the last sermon he gave in 
Tennessee, through every plight, he saw the Promised Land upon that 
great mountaintop. As we come together to celebrate his birthday, let 
us pledge to follow his footsteps up that mountain, to carry on his 
dream, until we meet him there.

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