Bill Clinton

“ On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr., was born, destined to make our world a greater and more noble one. Growing up in a landscape disfigured with "Colored Only" and "White Only" signs and a society rife with other demeaning racial barriers and distinctions, Martin Luther King, Jr., sadly learned that the Constitution's guarantee of equality was denied to most black Americans. He dedicated his life to ending the injustice of racism, gracing the world with his vision of a land guided by love instead of hatred and by acceptance instead of intolerance. ”

“ His unparalleled commitment to justice and nonviolence challenged us to look deeply within ourselves to find the roots of racism.
Throughout his all too brief life, Martin Luther King, Jr., often confronted powerful and even violent opposition, sacrificing his liberty, his personal safety, and, ultimately, his life for the cause of freedom. Though an assassin's bullet silenced him forever at the young age of 39, Dr. King's words and deeds continue to live on within each of us. ”

“ He did not live and die to create a world in which people kill each other with reckless abandon. He did not live and die to see families destroyed, to see communities abandoned, and to see hope disappear. If we are to be faithful to Dr. King's vision, we must each seize responsibility for realizing the goals he worked so tirelessly to fulfill. Dr. King's valiant struggle for true equality will be won, not by the fleeting passion of eloquent words, but by the quiet persistence of individual acts of decency, justice, and human kindness. ”