MLK III to Edwards: “Keep Fighting. My Father Would Be Proud.”

(@1 AM – promoted by On The Bus)

X-Posted from MyDD

Martin Luther King, III Praises Edwards For Leading The Fight For Economic Justice In America.

Following a meeting at the King Center in Atlanta on the afternoon of Saturday, January 19th, 2008, Martin Luther King, III sent John Edwards a letter praising Edwards’ commitment to fighting poverty and speaking out for those without a voice. King, the first son of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the President and CEO of Realizing the Dream, said his father was a fighter and urged Edwards to continue the fight for justice and equality. He also urged the other candidates to follow Edwards’ lead.

So, I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horserace, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter.

As a friend and a believer in my father’s words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.

Sincerely,

Martin L. King, III

Full letter, after the fold.

January 20, 2008

The Honorable John R. Edwards

410 Market Street

Suite 400

Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Dear Senator Edwards:

It was good meeting with you yesterday and discussing my father’s legacy. On the day when the nation will honor my father, I wanted to follow up with a personal note.

There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of back and forth in the political arena over my father’s legacy. It is a commentary on the breadth and depth of his impact that so many people want to claim his legacy. I am concerned that we do not blur the lines and obscure the truth about what he stood for: speaking up for justice for those who have no voice.

I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are – a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.

You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don’t have lobbyists in Washington and they don’t get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.

I am disturbed by how little attention the topic of economic justice has received during this campaign. I want to challenge all candidates to follow your lead, and speak up loudly and forcefully on the issue of economic justice in America.

From our conversation yesterday, I know this is personal for you. I know you know what it means to come from nothing. I know you know what it means to get the opportunities you need to build a better life. And, I know you know that injustice is alive and well in America, because millions of people will never get the same opportunities you had.

I believe that now, more than ever, we need a leader who wakes up every morning with the knowledge of that injustice in the forefront of their minds, and who knows that when we commit ourselves to a cause as a nation, we can make major strides in our own lifetimes. My father was not driven by an illusory vision of a perfect society. He was driven by the certain knowledge that when people of good faith and strong principles commit to making things better, we can change hearts, we can change minds, and we can change lives.

So, I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horserace, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter. As a friend and a believer in my father’s words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.

Sincerely,

Martin L. King, III

http://www.johnedwards.com/new…

4 comments

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    • TomP on January 22, 2008 at 04:34
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    This is why we never will give up.

  1. This nomination battle is a long way from over.

    • TomP on January 22, 2008 at 07:06
      Author

    On the Bus.

  2. …since noone…else comes forth…

    I now declare that I am stepping / will step forward…

    To Declare —  THE GENERAL STRIKE

    Beginning      March 19, 2008

    The 5th Anniversary of the travesty of Shock & Awe…,

    I call on all folks of good will, equality and justice…

    To stop.

    In the manner of Mohandas Gandhi, of Martin Luther King, of all those who have refused to cooperate with an unjust system, with a destructive system, with a system mired in a regressive program of destruction, I call on all of us who find resonance in the message, I call upon us to stop with me, to drop out with me, to refuse to lend our agreement in complicity to this system which does not work.

    I admit. This is easy for me.  I am a senior citizen.  I don’t need to worry about losing my job.  

    But what do our jobs matter if we lose our souls and pass this travesty on to our children and grandchildren, if the planet even lasts that long.

    In the only way I can see of saying a total “NO” to this system, a GENERAL STRIKE, a total statement that we will no longer acquiesce or go along with this demonic system, I pledge my total support.  I will be out there for the

    GENERAL STRIKE

    March 19, 2008. et. seq. …and as long as it takes…

    Until this goverment recognizes that this is a government of the people, by the people, for the people…

    …a government of us, by us, for us…

    That’s it for now.  If that doesn’t do it, the next plan will arise soon…

    We refuse to be complicit in the travesty of honesty, justice and fairness which is the current system in these United States of America.

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