Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. — Part 2 of 5

In tribute to Coretta Scott King, who died Jan. 30, 2006 at age 78. In this photo she is speaking at an anti-war demonstration in Sheep Meadow in New York’s Central Park on April 27, 1968, just 23 days after the assassination of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Photo by Michael Evans, The New York Times)

In commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, UNMC Today will feature a series of photos and quotations from the civil rights leader.

“I remember so well when I first took a stand against the war in Vietnam. The critics took me on and they had their say in the most negative and sometimes most vicious way. One day a newsman came to me and said, ‘Dr. King, don’t you think you’re going to have to stop, now, opposing the war and move more in line with the administration’s policy? As I understand it, it has hurt the budget of your organization, and people who once respected you have lost respect for you. Don’t you feel that you’ve really got to change your position?’ I looked at him and I had to say, ‘Sir, I’m sorry you don’t know me. I’m not a consensus leader. I do not determine what is right and wrong by looking at the budget of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. I’ve not taken a sort of Gallup Poll of the majority opinion.’ Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.”

Martin Luther King, Jr., excerpt from sermon “Remaining Awake During a Great Revolution”, in “A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of
Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Plan to attend

The 2007 Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration, sponsored by UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center, will be Monday, Jan. 15 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Storz Pavilion on the lower level of Clarkson Tower. The program is free and open to the public.

Speaking at the event will be Valda Boyd Ford, director of the UNMC/The Nebraska Medical Center Community and Multicultural Affairs.

Ford is an internationally-acclaimed educator and strategist on diversity and multicultural initiatives who has extensive experience providing health services at some of the world’s largest refugee camps. She will focus on this aspect of her career and Dr. King’s worldview during her lecture, which is titled, “Extending the Dream: Realizing the Nightmare of Third World Refugees.”

For more information, contact Walter Brooks at 559-5768 or send an e-mail to wbrooks@unmc.edu.