[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2445-2446]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY LESSONS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 15, S. Res. 29.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 29) expressing the sense of the 
     Senate regarding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the many 
     lessons still to be learned from Dr. King's example of 
     nonviolence, courage, compassion, dignity, and public 
     service.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, and that any statements relating thereto be 
printed in the Record, without intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 29) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                               S. Res. 29

       Whereas Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated 
     his life to securing the Nation's fundamental principles of 
     liberty and justice for all citizens;
       Whereas Dr. King was the leading civil rights advocate of 
     his time, spearheading the civil rights movement in the 
     United States during the 1950s and 1960s, and earned 
     worldwide recognition as an eloquent and articulate 
     spokesperson for equality;
       Whereas in the face of hatred and violence, Dr. King 
     preached a doctrine of nonviolence and civil disobedience to 
     combat segregation, discrimination, and racial injustice, and 
     believed that each person has the moral capacity to care for 
     other people;
       Whereas Dr. King awakened the conscience and consciousness 
     of the Nation and used his message of hope to bring people 
     together to build the Beloved Community--a community of 
     justice, at peace with itself;
       Whereas Dr. King was born on January 15, 1929, and attended 
     segregated public schools in Georgia;
       Whereas Dr. King began attending Morehouse College in 
     Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 15, and received a B.A. degree 
     in 1948 from Morehouse College, following in the footsteps of 
     both his father and grandfather;
       Whereas Dr. King received his B.D. in 1951 from Crozer 
     Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in 
     theology in 1955 from Boston University;
       Whereas in Boston Dr. King met Coretta Scott, his life 
     partner and fellow civil rights activist, and they married on 
     June 18, 1953, and had 2 sons and 2 daughters;
       Whereas Dr. King was ordained in the Christian ministry in 
     February 1948 at the age of 19 at Ebenezer Baptist Church, in 
     Atlanta, Georgia, and became Assistant Pastor of Ebenezer 
     Baptist Church;
       Whereas, in 1954, Dr. King accepted the call of Dexter 
     Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and was pastor 
     there until November 1959, when he resigned to move back to 
     Atlanta to lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference;
       Whereas from 1960 until his death in 1968, Dr. King was 
     again a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, along with his 
     father;
       Whereas between 1957 and 1968, Dr. King traveled over 
     6,000,000 miles, spoke over 2,500 times, and wrote 5 books 
     and numerous articles, supporting efforts around the Nation 
     to end injustice and bring about social change and 
     desegregation;
       Whereas Dr. King led the Montgomery bus boycott for 381 
     days to protest the arrest of Mrs. Rosa Parks and the 
     segregation of the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama, in the 
     first great nonviolent civil rights demonstration of 
     contemporary times in the United States;
       Whereas during the boycott, Dr. King was arrested and his 
     home was bombed, yet he responded with nonviolence and 
     courage in the face of hatred;
       Whereas, on November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court of the 
     United States declared the laws requiring segregation in 
     Montgomery's bus system to be unconstitutional, leading to 
     the end of the bus boycott on December 21, 1956;
       Whereas Dr. King led the March on Washington, D.C. on 
     August 28, 1963, the largest rally of the civil rights 
     movement;
       Whereas during that march, Dr. King delivered his famous 
     ``I Have A Dream'' speech from the steps of the Lincoln 
     Memorial and before a crowd of over 200,000 people;
       Whereas Dr. King's ``I Have A Dream'' speech is one of the 
     classic orations in United States history;
       Whereas Dr. King was a champion of nonviolence, fervently 
     advocating nonviolent resistance as the strategy to end 
     segregation and racial discrimination in the United States;
       Whereas Dr. King was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize in 
     recognition for his efforts, and, at the age of 35, was the 
     youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize;
       Whereas through his work and reliance on nonviolent 
     protest, Dr. King was instrumental in the passage of the 
     Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965;
       Whereas the work of Dr. King created a basis of 
     understanding and respect and helped communities, and the 
     Nation as a whole, to act cooperatively and courageously to 
     achieve tolerance, justice, and equality between people;
       Whereas, on the evening of April 4, 1968, Dr. King was 
     assassinated while standing on the balcony of his motel room 
     in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead sanitation 
     workers in protest against low wages and intolerable working 
     conditions;
       Whereas in 1968 Representative John Conyers first 
     introduced legislation to establish a national holiday 
     honoring Dr. King;
       Whereas Coretta Scott King led a massive campaign to 
     establish Dr. King's birthday as a national holiday;
       Whereas in 1983 Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan 
     signed legislation establishing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day;
       Whereas in 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated 
     in more than 100 countries;
       Whereas in remembering Dr. King we also honor his wife and 
     indispensable partner, Coretta Scott King, a woman of quiet 
     courage and great dignity who marched alongside her husband 
     and became an international advocate for peace and human 
     rights;
       Whereas Mrs. King, who had been actively engaged in the 
     civil rights movement as a politically and socially conscious 
     young woman, continued after her husband's death to lead the 
     Nation toward greater justice and equality for all, traveling 
     the world advocating for racial and economic justice, peace 
     and nonviolence, women's and children's rights, gay rights, 
     religious freedom, full employment, health care, and 
     education until her death on January 30, 2006;
       Whereas the values of faith, compassion, courage, truth, 
     justice, and nonviolence that guided Dr. and Mrs. King's 
     dream for the United States will be celebrated and preserved 
     by the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the 
     National Mall near the Jefferson Memorial and in the new 
     National Museum of African American History and Culture that 
     will be located near the Lincoln Memorial;
       Whereas Dr. King's actions and leadership made the United 
     States a better place and the people of the United States a 
     better people;
       Whereas the people of the United States should commemorate 
     the legacy of Dr. King, so ``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'''; and

[[Page 2446]]

       Whereas Dr. King's voice is silenced today, but on the 
     national holiday honoring Dr. King and throughout the year, 
     the people of the United States should remember his message, 
     recommit to his goal of a free and just nation, and consider 
     each person's responsibility to other people: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) observes and celebrates the national holiday honoring 
     Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.;
       (2) honors Dr. King's example of nonviolence, courage, 
     compassion, dignity, and public service;
       (3) pledges to advance the legacy of the Dr. King; and
       (4) encourages the people of the United States to 
     celebrate--
       (A) the national holiday honoring Dr. King; and
       (B) the life and legacy of Dr. King.

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