Elijah Lewis: “38 years ago Martin Luther King, Jr., was taken by from us by an assassin's bullets. He had gone to Memphis, Tennessee…”

“38 years ago Martin Luther King, Jr., was taken by from us by an assassin's bullets. He had gone to Memphis, Tennessee to call for economic justice for working people in America and for the sanitation workers there. Mr. Speaker, it is difficult for me to find the right words to express my feelings about Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a man, my friend. He was my inspiration, my leader, my colleague, and my brother. Martin Luther King, Jr., more than any other American of the 20th century had the power to bring people together to do good, black and white, rich and poor, young and old, Protestant, Catholic and Jews. He could inspire with his words, with his vision, and his leadership. He could fill ordinary people with the extraordinary vision that they had the power to build a new, more fair, more just America. His message was love. His weapon was truth. His method was creative nonviolence. And his goal, Mr. Speaker, was the Beloved Community, a community of justice, a Nation at peace with itself. In a sense he spoke a strange language, a philosophy of passive resistance to evil and the use of nonviolence in the struggle for good. He was far too advanced in his concepts of love and peace for the violent times in which he lived, perhaps too advanced for us to understand even today. But, Mr. Speaker, the assassins of Martin Luther King, Jr., did not kill the dream of peace. They did not kill the dream of an open society.…”