Associated Press
Washington – Congress marked the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death Thursday with tributes by House and Senate leaders and words of remembrance by lawmakers who once worked alongside the civil rights leader.
“Because of the leadership of this man we rose up out of fear and became willing to put our bodies on the line,” said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a companion of King in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.
Also speaking at ceremonies in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall were Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and House and Senate Republican leaders John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.
Reid noted that after King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968, his body was not bestowed the honor of lying in the Capitol Rotunda. “Yet because our country dared to embrace his dream, his statue now stands there permanently, just steps from where we are.”
Other speakers were Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the second black lawmaker in history to become a party whip; Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., head of the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus, and King’s son, Martin Luther King III.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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posted April 3, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Good.
posted April 3, 2008 at 9:12 pm
This makes news because?
posted April 4, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Pagan this makes news because he is a great person in the history of this country, if you’ve got to ask then you missed it.
posted April 4, 2008 at 2:13 pm
He’s a great person? To some.
posted April 4, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Yes, to add, he certainly did start a movement that should have been started many years before. However he is now gone, and what good does it do for congress to get up and make speeches about him? Or anyone else who has done good things after they have died, for that matter?
posted April 4, 2008 at 5:25 pm
pagan, I would be amazed, but it’s you. The whole civil rights era was a bore to you.
posted April 4, 2008 at 7:05 pm
“The whole civil rights era was a bore to you.” cknuck
Not really. Instead of congress getting up and making speeches on the anniversary of his death, they should be continuing to do things that will help folks. Celebrating his life is a good thing, but that can be done with deeds, not rhetoric once a year.
posted April 5, 2008 at 2:22 am
I’d love to know what deeds you have don lately. There are many folk remembered very few Blacks and little said about the injustice done to Blacks, so I think given what the man went through even unto death he deserves some recognition.
posted April 5, 2008 at 7:49 pm
MLK was a leader of his people, and an American through and through. He was a man of peace when the Panthers strode around showing their anger and enjoyed frightening people. He stood up to them and the white racists. He died far too young with so much to do in “his” way. Every year he is honored people realize what he did was important and necessary to push his people out into our lives where they should have been many years before. He’s honored every year like other important Americans so our children will know who and what he said and accomplished. It’s really very simple to understand.