Monday, January 21st marked the 33rd Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. As a proud member of the immigrant and minority communities, I take this day to reflect on his legacy and how his words have influenced how we live our own lives. Dr. King led the charge in our nation to promote diversity, to celebrate it, and to draw strength from it. Without his leadership I may not sit where I do today in the Senate Chamber, or enjoy the freedoms that I do as a citizen of this great State and Nation.
Each year on this day, I like to revisit Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. This year, these three passages stood out to me.
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” In these days of political tribalism and vitriol, I find this particularly poignant. One of my personal goals is to revitalize the respect and deference we all deserve, whether we are discussing politics, social movements, or which team we are rooting for in the Super Bowl this year. This quote reminds me that no matter how much we disagree we must, as King said, “forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.”
“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 [and women] are created equal.” Our society is still going through the turmoils of change, and to this day we are fighting to live out this creed. More and more people are being granted access to the rights they are given by our Declaration of Independence, but even today we should keep this goal in mind as we strive to hold onto the progress we have made towards equality.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.” One of the most recognizable lines from his speech, I believe this to be the foundation of how we will achieve diversity. When we choose our friends, employees, and elected officials not by what they look like but for how they act and what they believe, we will find ourselves surrounded by those who look different from ourselves because personality does not discriminate.
On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, let us reflect on his words and do our best to live by them.
