Today begins one of the most important weekends in American
history. Over this three day weekend, our nation will inaugurate
and celebrate the second term of our first African-American
president – one of the most progressive in our history. We will
also celebrate the life, work, and legacy of one of America’s
greatest heroes and most successful organizers and movement
leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The president would not be
possible without the organizer and movement leader. Let us not
forget President Obama would not be possible without Dr. King,
the movement he led, and the people who followed him in the
streets. Many of us think of Dr. King’s movement freed African-
Americans to be full participants in American life. And for the
most part that is true. But Dr. King and his movement to a large
extent opened the doors to freedom for all Americans of color
and freed many white Americans from their own prisons of
prejudice, bigotry, and racism. I was raised white with Native
American and African-American