shirley chisholm introduced the bill in every session of the legislature. mr. cahners introduced the bill for days after the death of mr. king. their research -- mr. conyers introduced the bill for days after the death of king. . >> that was a freshman female named katie hall that was placed

in a key position and decided that would put her name on the bill and she would address the bill. that was the willingness of k the hall when it came to deciding how to get this finally passed. there was a willingness to compromise and i will talk about that later. another factor was that the congressional black caucus did not -- never able to reach out and we will let them take credit for some of the momentum around the bill. the fact that it was a coordinated effort coretta scott king, she put all their resources of the king center behind the passage of this bill. she wanted to make certain that

this bill definitely past. she became the public face of advocacy. for her to come out publicly and publicly lobbying. another factor is the advocacy groups. in 1971. rev. abernathy came to washington and delivered petitions of 3 million signatures, asking that this bill we passed. a number of trade unions throughout the country took on the cause. it is also the passage of the legislation and they were very

involved in the state legislature in getting the state to pass holiday bills before we got a federal bill. the advocacy groups whabrought buses to washington so that there would be a public demonstration around the passage of the bill. advocacy groups sponsored petition drives around the country. 6 million signatures were delivered to congress and it is noted that these were the most signatures ever received on behalf of a piece of legislation. stevie wonder recorded the happy birthday song and it was very important. at the time, he probably did not think it was that much of a big deal. it became sort of the national anthem of the movement.

also, the fact that the water was going to be out on the mall help attract more people to come out there and support the legislation. he put a lot of his own money into this campaign. he became one of the very visible personalities. many state legislatures were at the state level. in 1973, the state of illinois was the first state to adopt the state holiday in honor of martin with a cane. this was led by harold washington. he would labiate lead -- later become the first mayor of the city of chicago. the states of massachusetts adopted the legislation. new jersey followed in 1975. by the time the legislation

passed at the federal level, there were a number of states that already had state holidays in honor of dr. king. what were some of the arguments made in opposition by senators and representatives and others? one of the first documents was that no other american besides george washington had ever received such an honor. why did we have the audacity to think that king was on the same level as george washington. i would need to spend a lot of time talking about what people felt like he deserved that honor, many people felt that king was as important a figure in history as george washington. he helped to save this country by bringing us together across racial lines. his contribution was beyond saying that we were going to honor the birthday of a man.

senator jesse helms, the senator from north carolina, did not feel that teen was worthy of a holiday. he created a lot of junk to place in the hands of every senator. i remember reading some of deliberations on the senate side and how he send these documents around to every senator's office and how senator patrick moynihan from new york took the document to the floor and threw them on the floor and stop them -- and stopped them and said that this is what this -- stomped them and said that this is what this is all about. there was also discussion about

the cost of another federal holiday. it would cost $2.1 million. but it was interesting that it was counter argued by people in support of the holiday in why they never hear this complaint when the president of united states gives an extra day for christmas. some people suggest that we will give kiran a day. he will give him a commemorative day. make a sunday. st. patrick's day is not a paid holiday and i am sure the irish would like to have a st. patrick's day as a paid holiday. there was an amendment added to one of the pieces of legislation that said that we will have a king holiday, but it will be a

sunday. at that point, the legislation was withdrawn rather than having them attached. it was also argued that the holiday was too close to christmas and new year's holidays, giving people too much time off. the compromise that was agreed to was that what we will do is that instead of having it on january 15, we would have it on the third monday in january. through all the debates and delay is and the tactics -- of delays and the tactics, the cdc stood firm. its members dedicated themselves to memorializing dr. king's legacy with a holiday. finally, on august of 1983, the house passed the bill but they

had to get past the senate side. at that time, there was the 20th anniversary of the march on washington. instead of focusing on the house, the focus came to get the senate to pass the legislation and get the president to sign it. after these techniques, the president signed it into law. let me just mention a few personal reflections about my memories of the martin luther king holiday. before 1980, the only involvement i had in the making of this bill was to sign a petition. but i moved to washington d.c. in 1981. right after i moved here, there

was a demonstration planned for january 15 to mark king's birthday. i remember stevie wonder being there. this is not long after stevie wonder sang happy birthday to dr. king. in 1982, i remember that particular demonstration because it was very cold that day. it was two days after an airplane went down in the potomac river. at 74 people were killed. the demonstration was two days after that. it took me 4.5 hours to get home from work that day. two days later, to imagine that people would take buses and come

to washington and i would find myself standing out on the mall in this cold weather and the snow was still on the ground and it was damp. if you would be shivering and would try to find some comfort. i remember going to the botanical gardens by the house office building, trying to get a little warmth because it was so cold. i remember remarking that people are serious about this bill because they just would not be out here in all of this cold weather. that is when i knew that we would get this bill passed because when we were out there and all that cold weather, whenever it snowed, we locked up. but to be out there on the mall, we were serious in 1983, i

remember -- we were serious. in 1983, i was asked to join the 20th anniversary of the march on washington. we answered the call from mr. fauntroy, and at the time, we were mobilizing people to try to get the bill passed. by the time we had the march, the bill had passed on the house side, but we used the march to try to mobilize people into contacting their senators and the president of united states. let me just try to start wrapping up. i am pleased that the bill passed. when i look back and wonder if it was worth all the time and effort that was put into it, i feel like it was realized more than what i imagine.

it is even more significant. you think about it when you get a monday holiday, what do you do? you'd get to go out shopping and you'll get another day of rest. i figured that after a couple of days come back -- after a couple of years, we would drift into that. this has much more meaning to those of us who were part of fighting for it. for the young people, as you can along -- camelot, it was part of your life and you understood that around teens birthday, you were going to learn about keying it was no more than listening to the "i have a dream"speec speec. it played a role in our history

in the united states. when mr. conyers introduced the legislation, he said that this holiday would not be an ordinary holiday. there would be time to consider how far we have progressed and how far we have to go. it is a time to honor the spirit of love and hope that was king's life. sometimes you wonder, even though dr. king really would not have wanted a holiday in his honor, you wonder whether he would be surprised that it took so long for us to get this holiday. i wanted to start to wrap up with looking at the issues and what we are doing.

the founders of the black caucus used legislation to meet the needs of neglected citizens. the congressional black caucus foundation is a nonpartisan organization. they worked closely with the congressional black caucus to educate young people to help mold the next generation of leaders and to broaden the influence and elevate the influence of african-americans in the political arena. a few years ago, some of the members of the cbc felt that there was a need to catalogue the history of african-americans in the legislative process of the united states. we created a side and you will see it up there on the screen. it is designed to take some of

these boxes. most people that served in congress collect a lot of stuff. these things are in boxes. what we have done is we have been able to take some of these boxes and able to catalog it and create an on-line library of material. the first exhibit that we created was a dedication to the making of the martin luther king holiday bill. this web site, you can go there and you can see the scenes on the screen now. the team exhibit consists of five major sections. the history, the debates, public advocacy, legislation and timeline. you can click on any of those and it will take you to a lot of

background material for those of you who like to do some research. we also have a lot of documents and speeches. some of the -- we partnered with howard university of which is the official repository for the congressional black caucus. the university of texas helped us digitize this. we created a gallery where we have a number of pictures that mr. conyers office lotus have -- let us have. you can go on line after this program and explore some of the things we have on line that -- online. we want a living memorial to dr. king and the congressional black caucus.

after this session, i think we will have a display. i look forward to having a dialogue during the question and answers section. >> i had used a lot of the documents on your site. it gives a little more detail on the legislative history of the bill. i am grateful to you for that. i will turn the program over to denise barnes. >> good afternoon. and thank you. it is a pleasure to be here this afternoon. i am more excited that you are here to hear about the making of a holiday. one of the things that i feel fortunate enough to say is that to a certain extent, i was

there. while i was not on the hill, working next to congressman conyers and the other members of the congressional black caucus, just like you, i was a young person in washington d.c. that happened to be the daughter of a newspaper publisher and a stepdaughter of the d.c. city council i sat beside them and listen to conversations over the dinner table. i would cover stories and read stories about how it all unfolded. when dr. kean -- living here in washington d.c., this is one of the places to be because a lot

of stuff happens here. i remember at nine years old when dr. king and came to washington. my stepmother was one of the attorneys. there was a lot of attorneys from the national association and other bar associations that did pro bono work for the folks that they thought might get arrested. just looking at all the excitement that was being built up around the poor people's march, but because of his untimely death, that march took place here in washington d.c.. on april 4, 1968, when dr. king and was assassinated, i remember

being on the playground of my junior high school and i was hanging out. someone hollered out that dr. king was assassinated. the district of columbia have gone through its transition at that time and we had moved from a predominantly white school system with just a few schools and more integrated time. when we came in, folks left. i remember a white girl her response was that they hope they killed him. i needed to know who this man was. why was there such hatred for him?

i do not have to say that we never saw her again. i hope that she is doing well, but that was a sad day of the playground. we were both in junior high school and it was a sad day in washington d.c. and cities across the country. there was a lot of unhappiness and a lot of injustice and a lot of anger and a lot of resentment. in washington d.c., while it went up in flames, like other cities following dr. keene's association -- assassination -- dr. king's assassination, they described it as an economic rebellion. because of the things that dr. king and others were so actively involved in, things that opened

the door for my parents so that they could have some hope for me, to have that snatched away by a bullet and and also what was happening in our communities where people were going into businesses that were not owned by people in our community and being charged prices and economic injustice was taking place. i was one of those children that grew up with a single parent and spent weekends and summers with my father and stepmother. this was the first time i had ever been exposed to tear gas. it was the last time i was exposed to tear gas. i got to see how angry people

were. i knew that something good had to come out of this. to have a holiday named after dr. keaing, after the flames wee gone and the charred buildings remained, as you know, it took 15 years for the buildings to be rebuilt and for the boards to be taken off and for some of the glass to be replaced. it was a long struggle to change. what we're doing here today may seem like it is a memory, but it took a long hard fight. my stepmother is a member of the city council. >> let me back up a second. there have been some names thrown out today. i am not sure how many of you all know these people, but i want to to take these names away with you and look up these

names. when you talk about david abernathy who was the right-hand man of dr. king o, and when you hear about miss mitchell from the state of maryland who just recently passed away. noble legacy, names like walter fauntroy. i do not know how many of you live here or go to school here, but when dr. scott talk about the state's that's updated the king holiday, the states and the district of columbia. we are not a state, but we are redistricted we are the nation's capital. we were one of the first jurisdictions to create our own martin luther king holiday.

also, mr. thought or what it was our first delegate. then there was congress eleanor horton. there were two individuals representing the district of columbia in spite of all that, or it because of that, that is why the district of columbia was still actively involved in all that happened to make sure that the king holiday became a reality. the council member represented ward no. 8. how many of you know about the washington area? board member eight is what i'm used to call the harlem of new york for the south-central part

of l.a.. it characterized as the low income, poorest and least educated where the highest numbers of single-parent families households are held. the highest dropout rate. any thing-you can say about -- anything negative that you can say about a community was represented by board no. 8. but, it is interesting that following dr. king's assassination, and this was something that was hardly touched by the economic rebellion, a k a riots, in ward no. 8, it did not happen like in other places. but because of her leadership, but because she was involved in

the civil rights movement, she was one of the first women attorneys to start the association of black women attorneys, she decided to launch one of the first martin luther king day parades in the city -- in the country. cities across the country were beginning to have these activities, but she wanted to do this in board no. 8. when you talk about dr. scott, when he talked about the cold weather, for years, the martin luther king parade became one of the biggest parades in the country. fortunately, when stevie wonder would come to washington d.c., he became the grand marshal of our parade. this was a way for children to

get a chance. this is what she had in mind when she established this, that every year we may lose the momentum to celebrate dr. king's birthday in a certain way. she asked how we could get the children to know him. this was her way of getting them involved, to bring the children out. she had marching bands from every school. we had bands coming from maryland and vans coming from virginia -- a bands coming from virginia -- bands coming from virginia. they had decided that january is too cold for our children to be out marching. a couple of years ago, some colleagues of mine decided that

-- how in the world could you have an avenue -- they decided to main avenues and streets after dr. king. i sure -- i am sure that you are coming from somewhere that has an avenue for boulevard named after dr. king. how can you have the martin luther king avenue and not have any activity on that date? a group of us from the community decided that we were going to do a walk, a peace walk. this would be at our annual peace what honoring dr. king. the march has been moved to april, but it is what dr. kean is about. he took the little people and work with the little people and

the power of the little people to show that they could actually make a difference in this country. yet, we have this romantic feeling about dr. king. it is sad to faint that folks did not surround him and followed him in the great numbers that so many of us think that they did. when we look at dr. kiran, he was all about peace. we look at urban areas that are just blocks away and even on the blocks that are named after dr. king. today, they have to be the most violent locations in our areas. they are in poor neighborhoods. they are in neighborhoods where kids are dropping out of school

and guns are so accessible. it is important for us to get together because that is his legacy. how do we continue to teach that legacy. we do not want to put flowers out, but to look at the overall vision of peace. that is how i was raised. that is what my stepmother did when she named this avenue after martin luther king because she wanted to pass something on and help people remember what difference this man made in our lives. that is what it meant to when she decided to create this parade in his honor. they decided to name schools after dr. king. we want to continue to do that. we have a responsibility. my generation has the responsibility and your generation has the responsibility to figure out,

every year, as we come up on the third monday in january, what can i do to keep this holiday a special day? we call it a day on and not a day off. if there is a peace walk in your neighborhood, if there is a clean up in your neighborhood, what everett is, we have heard the story about what it took to create the holiday. thank goodness for thomas hart, who documented this in a film called "the making of a holiday ." that film is available on the internet. it is called the making of a holiday. congressman conyers is featured in that film. you can actually see stevie wonder talk about that. you can see that cold day that dr. scott talked about.

i am surprised that we did not meet their -- meet theire. we all had our little flashlights and he is singing happy birthday to you. it was a party. it had a great time if you need that to just -- it was a great time. if you need that to just get the vision of what it is that you can do to make sure that this day does not go in vain, a lot of work when and to make in this day holiday and it came from people like you and me. let's continue to celebrate the holiday. let's make it the best they that it can be and what to make the

best that can be. i think that as part of what my contribution is to this panel, to show that it was a lot of the work of the folks appear have a great martin luther king holiday. [applause] >> i might add that one of the things that i noticed on the timeline is the fact that 1994, the congress enacted a bill that makes the same day service day and that is something to keep in mind. you have a lot of kids that are out of school but they find the service opportunities to dedicate that day to service for their community. with that, i will introduce moses boyd. >> thank you, donna.

>> sorry about that. it is good to be back at the wilson center. i wanted to come and give some brief comments on the meaning of of the subject and this day, but let me thank the prior presenters, chairman conyers, chelsea and bemis have covered a lot of ground -- chelsea -- elsie and denise covered a lot of ground. i do not think that we should take for granted the hard, legislative work that was required in the success of the

bill. we definitely a zero another round of applause to congressman conyers and all the people who were involved. i am familiar from his dealing with the commerce committee under the leadership. i am originally from south carolina. i note chairman conyers is familiar with that. we are supportive of the king holiday bill. when i joined the commerce committee in 1989, he was a member of that commission and i have the opportunity to join a couple of meetings on his behalf. even though the bill was passed, the commission was there to

continue the work in promoting the celebration because it still took a lot of work to educate people as to what we needed the holiday. there was a resistance to the celebration even after the bill passed. the bill was a federal holiday bill and therefore, states began to implement their own recognition of dr. kean. invariably, every time one of those bills,, there was resistance. -- one of those bills came up, there was resistance. even today, every time the issue comes up, there is still resistance. there is this presumption that that is not the case. that tension comes from disagreements from the past i

thank of that in this room, it has been proven that most americans recognize what we need this sort of celebration. what i would like to do is cover what i think are some of the important characteristics of dr. king and to give some background of why there is a king holiday. i might even mention what we needed it and what it means to us now and in the future. it was pointed out earlier that the resistance to the holiday was because some felt that you should not put someone like dr. king on the level of other great americans who we recognize your holidays. be a president's day, washington or lincoln. we recognize the contributions of our servicemen.

but holidays are very rare. the idea that you are now going to honor dr. king is very important. we should not take that for granted. now, you're putting him on level of other great figures in history. how could you do that? anytime that you engage in some kind of holiday celebration of an event or figure, it is not even so much that the individual itself is who you are on a. it becomes a representation of an event, and many people that contribute to the cause of recognition, any time we have a holiday, be it memorial day or whatever, you are honoring many americans. i know that from my study that dr. king would be the first to say that he was not the first

that came and should not be the first to serve the cause of civil rights. so, when we are talking about dr. king, we are talking about giving recognition to his great contributions and attributes, but also the great movement that he stood for. it stood for the most powerful social movements in the world and american history. it is easy to look at these things in the abstract, but what we often do is take history for granted. we take for granted in our personal lives. as a nation, we also take for granted the contributions that people make to allow us to be a great nation. it is easier to study them as silhouettes.

what this holiday is supposed to be is to make sure that we reflect seriously on what that movement meant and what it was so powerful. it was a difficult movement as a chairman has indicated. it was not easy for dr. king and it was not easy for all of the persons involved in it. when we talk about a celebration, it is important to keep all of that in perspective. wickum as to dr. king, i think there are certain important attributes that are important to recognize. it helps put this day in perspective. because we often understand that he gave the i have a dream speech on the national memorial

all of that is important and true. to walk away with that would not do justice to what he stood for and the movement that he represented. so, i would just like to highlight some of what i think are the important attributes. in addition to being a great orator and a humanitarian, he was committed to the improvement of american society and and the entire world. he had a moral vision -- he

played an important role in that. but dr. king had many other faces. there was the civil-rights leader but was also the entire vietnam war dr. king. it was also the poor people's march dr. king. those were somewhat different adorations of what he did but the singular guiding vision was his moral view of the world and the fact that we should always continue working to make this a more perfect union. another important thing is that he was a philosopher. he know that he was a ph.d. his insight went beyond the academics. he was a critical thinker.

he reflected on life. by the time he comes to the movement, movement, all of which he was studied, all the meaning of his life, and those that influenced him, black and non- black, professors and non- professors, those folks that shaped his view of the world. so now you are having a person who is now leading a movement whose leading to get lines and actually is a very, very deep- -- intellectual about human nature. if you began to read some of the books on dr. king, you'll

understand how much he devoted to studying and thinking about the meaning of human nature, about issues of power and power struggles and what those concept man and the ideashe was also a great politicalyou had to be to guide a verythe chairman noted that there was not unanimity, even in the african-american community, about tactics and strategies and the things that dr. king did. he went into birmingham and local communities did not want him there. they thought he was grandstanding, seeking attention. so when you begin to understand all of this debacle is, i think then you begin to appreciate hisç?$sp'y sacrifices. because by the time dr. king comes along and the movement had already begun. you could say the movement had begun when the first resistance came from the slaves and the rhythm kept going. but the litigation aspect of the civil rights movement began in the early century after the formation of the naacp. you had the brown decision as if we cannot give up the

authority of a lot to racial discrimination. so the decision was made. but now, you're in a position where you're challenging the most powerful organizing force in american society. it is class, culture, the role of gender, everything is organized around this issue, and now you are saying you have to be constructed. well, the face of the movement that dr. king led was that we need to start this deconstruction now. we need to implement the changes now. gradualism will not work. we will be here in 1980 and 2010 is still talking about this. and it took a lot of effort to make that happen. but you have to be wise in

political and social strategy to make it happen. when you start reading some of the planning that went on in and the strategic maneuvering to make this happen, you really begin to understand that the people involved were all very bright people. from lawyers like cameron congress and others, who all contributed to the success of the strategy is that brought about all of the legislation that we recognize there recognizing dr. king. he clearly was a great leader because he had to manage the tensions internally within the movement but also the resistance in larger society. and to guide the president and political leaders but also persons within the average american community toward the goal, making them believe that this could actually happen. but all of that to another important attribute that we, i think, sometimes dismiss are not taken as seriously. it took a lot of courage. from the moment dr. king started the montgomery bus movement, he knew his life was on the line. his house had been bombed. from then on, he knew he was a target.

he knew that in the. he could sacrifices life, but most significantly, he always had a chance to back out. he could have claimed success on the montgomery bus boycott. it was a success. he could've walked away in could have become a lot of things. it could god into business or gone into teaching. he could've done a lot of things probably to make it easier, but he chose not to do that. he chose to put himself at risk. when you read about him going to places and there is tension about him coming in, understand, he is going to put himself on the line. he knew that when he is walking as the leader, he is the target. he did not need bodyguards around one that was happening. the non-violent movement has also been described as a passive movement. it was anything but passivity. when one puts one's self, lays

one body out to resist a force of hatred or oppression and purposefully put someone's body up for resistance, that is not passivity. that is very aggressive. ñiit is physically present and even more so morally aggressive. it was that moral aggression that got in the work of dr. king, and he is a symbol of all of the others to really sacrificed themselves, men and women, black and non-black, to make the movement of success. and of these are just some of the reasons. we could go on but do not have time to cover all the attributes of a complex person like dr. king. we would not do justice. but i think those are seven important characteristics that we should keep in mind when we're speaking of dr. king and why we should never do anything to in any way minimize or

trivialize his work for the movement. and because of the impact that the movement in the movements that he led had on our society then and now, a celebration is certainly in order. but i would like to close by saying, so what is the celebration? a celebration is easy. we go every year and show up for dr. king programs. it could talk about it in school. you can write your research reports. you can say, i support the holiday. and if their continuing efforts to implement at the local level, you can support that. that is fine. and we should continue doing that. but at the end of the day, the purpose of this holiday is to

make sure that we continue to reflect on why we needed the civil rights movement, a poor people's campaign. what we have a first amendment to allow people the right to speak out in america. why do we need people of courage. sometimes people to sacrifice their lives, whether those in the midst of board today were those who sacrificed their lives in america through other causes. why sometimes those things are necessary for us to have the comforts of sitting here today and having this discussion. so when whitney talk about dr. king, it is important to reflect on all of those issues, why we needed it, why we needed such a sacrifice then and why we need even more sacrifices today.

so i will leave with this proposition. all of us obviously have to adhere to it, but i especially challenge those of the next generation that are in the audience. the issue is, yes, we're honoring dr. king. but i think what is even more significant from where we stand today is to give proper honor. the proper honor to days to question what movement are you going to be a part of? what movement are you going to lead? we are beset in this country in this world with as many problems that existed then, and they need to be resolved. often when you look in history, problems are resolved through movements, persistent efforts by groups and individuals to change the social structures of society. and there is still a need for that. the question is, in looking back at dr. king as the example and looking back at his life and work and all of that which he represents, all of the individuals that he represents an and bodies, what lessons can i learn from that as i now begin my movement in joining in supporting and leading? thank you very much. [applause]

>> thank you. i am going to exercise the product of the chair and ask one question that has puzzled me a little bit, but i think he has helped explain it a little bit more today. in 1979, you met with failure when an amendment came along to change this to send a holiday, so the bill was withdrawn. another congress and by and in 1983, you mentioned that you were able to strike an agreement with some republicans, and you did at more participation in debates and so on. but i was not aware that there was at least some kind of tacit agreement that the president would sign the ability of the passage in both houses. it was just the fact that you had a veto-proof majority in both houses the brought ronald reagan are round or did you understand from the beginning that he was going to eventually sign the bill if you succeeded in passing that? and why did the last moment

when you're about to achieve decree were you willing to hand the software freshman member of the congressional black caucus and not carry it through yourself? was it that she was in danger politically or what was the strategic part in doing that? >> i am going to make this kind of brief. thank you very much. what developed in addition to the sunday idea was the notion that we ought to put all future holidays on a monday. and the reason is that for collective bargaining and economic purposes, it is very difficult to have january 15, which would come on a different day of the week every year, and i was psychologically against that. and we finally had a showdown where they said it is going to

be on the 15th. it will be on the third monday in not the 15th. finally, coretta scott king had to come up. we were in the back room of voting on it. they wanted me to vote for that, and she pleaded with me. she said, john, we are not going to get the bill if we do not go along with a monday. that all of these holidays that might be added, they are all being abrogated in that way. so that is what happened. end cady hall was on the

committee that had the jurisdiction of the holiday bill, so they said, let's do it with her. i said, that is fine. i campaigned for her. i knew her well. and dick had sure -- and we knew where she came from. that is how that all happened. if i could add one other, our discussion. first of all, i would like to think the doctor from the woodrow wilson center for being here throughout this entire hearing. i know she has a lot of events here, and this is very impressive to me. let's give her a round of applause. [applause] ñiyou know, we have done some excellent calls to rihanna

address ourselves, motivate ourselves -- to reenergize ourselves and motivate ourselves. in the last three speakers made me make this suggestion to you. and that is that king is one of the most unusually gifted people of all time. here was a person that began as the minister, but it was his philosophy, his politics, his understanding of economics and legal justice that really superseded his original calling. his father was a minister, and he was naturally destined to be

a minister. but dr. king had an insight that transcended his religious convictions, although it is my belief that by being a minister, that gave them an additional, very important base upon which to move out into all these other religions, all these other activities. there was one thing about dr. king that i want to share with you. it is a very interesting celebration and memorial that

we're having here the woodrow wilson center. king never challenged anybody is religious conviction or did he use it as a test or did he try to win people over to his religious persuasion. never. he would tell you what his was, and he was, of course, supreme as a religious advocate, but it never had anything to do -- he did not know and made no big deal of what you're religious conviction was or what it was not. all he wanted you to do was to come into the struggle, and that gets me to the point that i am making. . .

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these libraries store these books as well. when we check it out, we give a scan back to the library. that's why it is important that other people do this as well. when we check out a book interest the michigan library it is just like if you were to check out a book, we scan it and give it back. when we do that, we don't damage the book. it is important that other people do that as well. we definitely don't want to be the only ones with the digital version of it. >> also to say, librarians have thought about this issue, not so much -- we all wish the best for google obviously and i feel somewhat ironic since i'm wearing a suit but paul

mentioned the haughty trust. what it was founded to do is bringing all of the google libraries that were having their books digitized together and trying figure out a way to preserve this content that if heaven forbid google went bankrupt and went away there is someone working hard to preserve it in some kind of managed way. libraries are thinking about this issue and are working on this issue. >> i just want to pay a compliment to google, not google books, which i know nothing about but google earth, which is a magnificent product. >> thank you. >> it gets its appeal with how easy it is to move about and you just feel like you have the whole world in your hands. is there in google books,

without revealing your secrets, where are you going with novel ways of moving about all this huge amount of information besides just key word search, which i imagine is where you're beginning? >> i'm in charge of the website. in a lot of ways i'm almost embarrassed by the website a lot of times. step one has been getting all the content, all of these millions of books and the next phase, how do you make it easier to find the books? i thought it was easier, like to music world if, you had access to all the world's music now, what do you want to listen to now? the paradox of choice. you know there is millions of books there but you almost don't know where to begin. that is something we need to address. some of the interesting trends, i think social is going to be a

interesting way to discover content. that's how we discover what to read often in the physical world like your friend starts reading a book and recommends it to you so you can discuss it together, i think it will be very interesting to connect users on google books. on g mail you have your contacts and your friends. if we can start having people with their reading lists and things like that, the big thing with facebook and the activity stream, basically pushing updates to you, when you check your facebook activity stream here is a picture of your friend bob at the zoo. i think it is interesting way to find books and you get updates like bob finished this book or jane reviewed this book but also giving people the tools to create t$eir own collections so you know, if you're interested

in golf, someone creates their top 10 books for golf and a lot -- the community basically to vote on and filter those collections as well. a lot of sites do this. when you search on a topic you can sart to research those as well. the problem is you have so many books, how can we do a better job of helping users find right book for them? >> we still have time for a few more questions if anyone has one. >> the other interesting trend, too, i think is mobile. i'm really excited about these smart phones and tablets. i've got a kindle and a sony book reader and i think they are great. there is sort of an attachment to physical books. i can't read my kindle in the bathtub or places like that you can drop it in but it is really

convenient, you can get a book within 60 seconds, wirelessly. i think it is good for readers and authors and we make it easier for readers to get books and find them more quickly we'll wind up selling more books. these devices also can encourage more reading. as these devices get cheaper, they are about $200 now, you can get them for free on rate plan. in years i believe a lot of people will have smart screens in their pockets. there is a lot of opportunities there for people to do more reading. maybe that 10 minutes on the train or moments in their day when they might otherwise not be lugging around a physical book and also with these interactive screens. we mentioned earlier the exciting things you can do starting to do more multimedia with the book and connecting books together and doing notes and anoteations and that kind of

stuff. >> one of the things that has been interesting listening to you folks, i teach in central florida one of the things that is interesting listening to you is almost like there is a conversation not happening. i mean -- given that we spend a lot of our time walking into a room full of vibrant young people who start to fall asleep doesn't always with the way the rest of the world thinks. at the same time when you hold up your book i can hear people's eyes rolling. [laughter] so what i'm wondering is do you folks at google hire people to be the people who interact between your power users and the folks like you who are actually designing these things? >> that's a good question. the risk is you end up creating a product for yourself and not

your actual users. you know, our demographics at google are skewed in a certain way and the risk is are we building a product for geeky engineers and we definitely don't want to do that. so what is the solution to that? we have more communication and coming to things like this and talking with the actual historians and researchers. >> i would bet a guy who runs a grad program might have a solution. >> yeah, that's a good solution too. >> i'm available. [laughter] >> we do have a user usability team that we work with. so we'll put an ad in cragse list. >> i would recommend h-net. and i have a job. i'm looking out for the grad students. >> what i'm saying is it seems like you say, a usability team

where there are a lot of people, for example, your talking about it and saying we can encourage more reading and if a book is a single text that we want people to read and these guys are thinking each book is useful for its few quote and i want thousands of them to be used t make arguments that make our students' eyes roll. >> i think it is easy to think of books as a singular thing. a look bike "twilight" is very different and the -- book like "twilight" is very drnt. you're drying to connect quotes and -- trying to connect thoughts and quotes together. for example, a device like a kindle works very well for fiction but not for scholarly work. we're definitely thinking

through those issues and we need to come up with better solutions. >> i just want to say we have two more questions and we are running short on time. >> i'm a librarian actually. i'm a practicing librarian. i use google books to find answers to questions that i never could have found before õbut i just have a suggestion fr you when you say your next step and he mentioned the social networking thing. i've lost interest right there. what you need to do is develop a more powerful search engine so i can do proximities that i can't do now. all i can do is put in some words. i want this word in the title, this word in the first paragraph and maybe these two words not guilty the third paragraph. i don't really care what sally is reading. that's not what i use google

books for. >> those are good suggestions. i do think thats down to different use cases. >> i'm sure you see the popularity of facebook and go that's great. let's do that with google books. i don't know if that is what many people want google books for. they want it for a research database, i think. i use it as an index. if i can find a snippet i think oh, i should get that book and use that to answer the question. >> definitely the scholars are are really power users and we need to continue to meet those needs. it would be nice if you're -- you just want to find a fun book to read, we want to support those users as well. we need to support both, i think. >> my hunch is that google, in fact took librarians was a proxy forñ scholars.

>> i want to build on the last two. jim from the newbury library. i'm not a librarian. my first suggestion is that dan and brandon go out to dinner tonight. i mean that more institutionly. the worst possible solution is to find out what sal ji reading. when a student goes into a library or or anybody working in a teaching environment, they are choosing books based on what the librarian suggests or the teacher suggests. what you're going to do is wind up with what you already have on google, a market on phenomenal. -- to create an algorithm would create an authority for

phenomena. >> someone might put together a silly question about romance novels or things that are fun but i also want those tools for serious scholarly work. you mentioned authority. basically reputation is important as well. if we get to the world where there is margin notes and annotation notes, basically it is a community validates, you contributed good thoughts to this conversation, you can get voted up. [inaudible] as far as connecting the dots, we just start working it out. on my front, it is building more tools.

to google -- it has been focused on the engineering challenge to scan the book. we need to make it more user friendly so they can find data they need. >>[inaudible] >> i'm using the word user as the people that know something about it as a subset of users. the problem more is of all the users organizing data of building ways to identify those who you trust more than others. >> and on that note, i think we probably have to say though this is a very valuable conversation to have and we obviously need many more, maybe this is an opportunity to kind of begin those conversations within this society or elsewhere. i just want to thank all of our speakers again, one last time. [applause] thank all of you for coming and have a good rest of the conference. >> thank you.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> the special election to fill the senate seat of the late ted kennedy is today. we talked with a reporter about the significance of the race. >> jonathan martin is in massachusetts covering the senate race there. you're right that the race could reshape the balance of power in washington. how would it do that? >> if scott brown is elected, it would mean that the g.o.p would have 41 seats ending the democrats' filibuster proof 60 seats in the senate. democrats in the senate who have

in the fashion they have been able to this the past few months, since senator franken gave them that 60th seat. it would be something of a roadblock that before the democratic majority could stymie -- it is obviously a media issue but a number of issues the democrats are pursuing. >> what items are you talking about? >> financial regulation of wall street. if they can get to an energy bill. if they can get to an immigration bill. those are three items that, you know, without having 60 seats, could make it harder for democrats to pursue their agenda this year. elections? how would this race affect that? >> well, that 41st vote i just mentioned. there is the symbolic impact. the larger political impact.

that is what it would do to the if they can't keep ted kennedy's seat and if they lose to a little known state senator up here, what does that mean for democrats who come interest more competitive districts? it would really throw a scare into a lot of folks in the party. >> we've seen reports that this is the biggest single american election outside presidential politics in decades. how important is this race? >> well, i think it is very first because of what it means for the democrats' majority and secondly because of what it would say about the kind of year that we're going to have. all too often we read too much they mean. but because of the elect rat and how they are behaving, i think

it says something for democrats apparently nowhere is safe. if they can't win here, where can they win? >> jonathan martin of politico. thank you. >> the u.s. house returns this afternoon at 2:00 eastern to debate a number of minor bills. later in the week a measure to let haiti donations count on 2009 tax returns. for contributions before march 1. congress passed similar legislation after the indian ocean tsunami in 2004. white house coverage on c-span. the senate returns wednesday 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span 2 to start the second session of the 111th congress. they will begin with a judicial nomination and begin debate on raising the federal debt limit. off the floor, house and senate democratic leaders are working with the white house on a health care compromise.

house democrats are caucusing today to discuss agreements reached so far. senators will also gather on the floor when they hold their weekly party luggages on wednesday. news reports say agreement was reached on portions of the health care legislation. >> on "washington journal" this morning, more about relief efforts in haiti. retired admiral james loy, former head of the transportation security administration discusses the failed bombing attempt on a northwest airlines flight and you can also call in your questions to mark halperin. a co-author of the book "game change." >> in honor of the the legacy of

dr. martin luther king isen the interface discussion was held on the relationship between spirit tchal practice and social change and also talked about the lessons of justice and equality that inspired their own act vism. this is an hour and 20 minutes. first, remarks from david morwell. >> geernings ladies and gentlemen. my name is david marwell. i'm very proud to be the director of the museum of jewish herge. a living memorial to the holocaust. i want to welcome you to what promises to be an interesting program. i would like to ask you all to do what i have fourth quarteren to do, which is -- forgotten to do, which is turn off my cell phone, which i will do now and point out as new york city law

requires the various fire exits in this theater. one marked over there. one stage left and then the two exits at the back of the theater which take you into the lobby and out into wagner park. i'm very pleased to welcome you this the evening to tonight's special program, which pays tribute to the legacy of dr. martin luther king jr. and his inspirational teachings. our distinguished panel of religious lead irs and activists and and i will introduce them in the order that they are seated. dr. ingrid madison. dr. calvin o. butts the third. dr. nakagaki. they join us this evening to discuss the role that faith has played in their own social activism and to share their thouths on the role of religion

-- thoughts on the role of religion and spirituality. their bios are in your programs. the group will be led in discussion by dr. gaddy who'll served a moderator and after their discussion they will be glad to take questions from the audience. please write your questions on index cards that will be distributed to you and they will be collected as the q & a begins. reverend dr. gaddy, our moderator is president to have interface alliance and the interface alliance foundation, which is committed to informing the public about our nation's long-standing commitment to religious freedom and current issues at the intersection of religion and politics and i want to pay a special thanks to our former colleague here at the museum, ari gel ar who works for

the interfaith alliance for his help in arining ranging tonight's -- arranging tonight's program. when they went out to investigate the burning of a black church, they were arrested on false charges and eventually released into the custody of the ku klux klan who beat and murdered them. it took the f.b.i. 44 days to find their bodies. a copy of the missing poster is a missing part of the core exhibition. reing visitors of all ages and

backgrounds that all of us do matter and that none of us is free unless all of us is free. after andrew's murder, his mother carolyn became synonymous with the civil rights movement. she spoke in this very room to our gallery of educators inspiring them with a message of social justice and act vism and inenforcing their work at the museum. when she spoke to audiences in this theater she shared intimate details of her family life. like she stuck bandages into his duffel bag when he wasn't looking, just in case. she also participated in several programs. dr. goodman is a permanent part of our core exhibition and can be heard on the museum's audio

tour recalling her son's decision to go to mississippi. he told her they are americans and they should have the right to vote and they are not permitted. she relates he was 20 and needed his parents' permission to go and she and her husband were very anxious but in her words we thought now the world can we possibly say no to andy and not give him our permission? her soul shown through her grief and she dedicated herself to telling the story of these three young men. she was a guiding light and an inspiration to the staff at the museum and she is loved and missed. one of carolyn's three sons, andy's brother, david goodman and dade's wife sylviaia are here in the audience this morning. david, would you stand for a moment? [applause] and now i would like to

introduce dr. c. welton gaddy who'll get the discussion going. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much and thank you for being here this evening for what we know will be a stimulating discussion. the interfaith alliance is, if you don't know, a national organization that considers individual rights and matters of personal conscious to be sacred. that is why we are for both faith and freedom. for more than 13 years we have been working to protect the integrity of religion and the vitality of democracy so they can flourish together. for that end, we challenge religious and political extremists who seek an entanglement of the institutions of religion and government and

thus threaten individual liberty and religious liberty. it is an honor to be moderating a discussion involving this distinguished panel. i am promoundly grateful for the opportunity to work with the museum of jewish heritage, a living memorial to the holocaust and i'm thankful for the invitation from the museum that made this cooperative effort possible. some 40 years ago, dr. martin luther king jr. said if we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values that all reality hinges on moral foundations. of course, a major question of our times is how to translate religion and moral values, the ones of which dr. king spoke,

into the priorities of our society and into the work of our government without compromising the guarantee of liberty for all people, regardless of their religion or lack of religion. tonight, as we remember and celebrate dr. king's life, we'll be compelled to respond to that demanding question. dr. king, like few other people, embodied an exemplary relationship between spiritual practice and social change. it had an appeal that transsended traditional divisions within the nation. that's why it is so very fitting for this evening's panel to involve outstanding leaders from the jewish, muslim, buddhist and christian communities. you have already been introduced to them and there is information

about each of them in the program that you have been handed. the civil rights movement that dr. king championed was the perfect example of the positive and healing role that religion can and should play in public life. dr. king'ser is mons, speeches, and even his acts of civil disobedience inspired and people at a time that was marked by harsh division and blatant hate. from his words, both the strategies of his work and the substance of his work, we have a lot to learn. especially in the midst of hotly contested primary elections involving deeply divide and seriously divisive partisan political campaigns. dr. king's dedication to his

message of hope and justice was deeply rooted in his personal faith, but his message about faith resonated with all people of faith and good will, not just the members of his baptist fellowship. dr. king focused on core religious values that coincide with basic democratic values. his call to let freedom ring recognized no exemmingses, no conditions, no special preferences related to that freedom. little wonder that his summons to liberty echoed in temples and mosques and churches of every variety. dr. king sought fulfillment for the founding vision of our

democracy. not the establishment of a sectarian religious ideology. dr. king's translation of spiritual practice into social change during the civil rights era stands in sharp contrast to the divisive and partisan tactics so prominent in our nation today. dr. martin luther king jr. spoke to democrats and republicans the same way. his interest was not to curry favor but it was to contribute to the common good. the issue was not partisan politics but civil rights. not party loyalty but social justice. dr. king was preimminently a rgts leader. dr. king -- a religious leader. dr. king went to church regularly, not to be able to use

religion as a political goal but to allow religion to use him and to shape his involvement in pursuit of a goal rooted in creation and affirmed by the nation. his religious identity shaped everything else rather than allowing everything else to shape him. dr. king did not go to gallop polling to find his values or to the head of the republican national committee or the democratic national committee to find his direction. his faith and values and direction came from scriptures and conscious and need. the interfaith alliance was founded in 1994 to challenge those who would manipulate religion for narrow political gain. not surprisingly then, we remain

committed to advancing a positive policy agenda in keeping with dr. king's counsel that all reality hinges on moral foundations. now to be sure, partisanship is a part of an election cycle. but our nation needs more than that. it is time for bipartisan coalitions of people of faith and goodwill to come together and tackle issues like hate crimes and racial profiling and basic protections for civil liberties, neither hate nor bigotry qualifies as neither a religious or a democratic value. as the fall's elections draw nearer, we are challenging candidates and their campaigns to remember the quality of dr. king's leadership. this man engaged in politics to

improve life for all people. his goal was not winning an election so much as securing justice for everybody. his strategy was not dividing, but uniting. dr. king knew both the pressure and the rice, related to political endorsements, to his way of thinking, compromising his prophetic ministry was not worth the gains of declared partisan loyalty. dr. king never endorsed a candidate for public office. of course, religious leaders have to talk about politics if we're going to discuss public policy and we will do that even tonight but never should we suggest that one candidate is god's choice for the leader of our nation or that one party has exclusive claims on our nation's

spirituality. spiritual practice should never become a political strategy. rather, it should remain the source of values that unite diverse people of all religious traditions and no religious traditions in facilitating social change that moves us closer to the vision of our founders and to the promise of dr. king's beloved community. you have already met the members of this panel. i'm going to ask each of them now to make an opening statement of about three minutes. that's a challenge in itself. and i want in that three minutes for you, if you will, to talk about the next us, the intersection of your -- nexus,

the intersection of your social action, what is the relationship between the two in your personal life. al, we will begin with you. >> we just heard a brilliant statement. i'm ready to sign on the statement. the only mistake that the moderator made in all the words that he said was the word about. speakers like us can drive a truck through that about. i've always said that beating a speech to death is the jewish form of capital punishment. we have great speakers here and i'm going to try hard to make this brief and personal. i'm old enough, to have lived

through a depression and i'm old enough to have gone to jail with martin luther king. i'm old enough to have fought in world war ii. i grew up in the st. paul, minnesota, at a time when the win the citys were known as america's capital of anti-semitism. you can imagine how blacks were treated in that society. the rest of america was not much better. that's one of the reasons why the record of america with an administration beloved by jews, raised only a feeble voice against the holocaust. that was then. now, of course, the twin cities,

among the most dynamic and enlightened communities in america, a place that has had several jewish senators, dozens of black officials, now a muslim congressman. it has transformed itself as america america. i just wanted to ask how did that happen? we have lots of things but not time to get into many of them but the most significant for me was the powerful ties of the civil rights revolution. knocking down the walls of segregation and discrimination. smashing quotas. opening the doors of equal opportunity to blacks and jews and ultimately to women and to gays and to persons with disabilities. martin luther king jr. was not the first or the only hero but he gave voice to the profound yearnings in the heart of

america. in my lifetime, no non-jewish leader with the possible exception of franklin roosevelt had the moral quality that martin luther king had with my jewish community. my personal experience was i was at a convention of rabbis, i'm not a rabbi. martin luther king sent a telegram to the convention "i need you tomorrow." in st. augustine, florida. we didn't even know where that was. we need you tomorrow. because we're challenging segregation in public facilities. 17 people were on a plane first thing in the morning. i was one of them. we met martin luther king and he answered the question that you just asked. what is this all about? and it wasn't just injustice. it was something profound and spiritual and moral that went to

the root of our beliefs as jews and he invoked the hebrew prophets in a way that was amazing to every one of us. he made them live. he made them act and within hours, because of martin luther king, we were all in jail. we were in jail for the younger people here for the crime of sitting down and having lunch. that's what we were arrested for. sitting down and having lunch with fellow americans and we are turned over to the tender mercies of a name that still sits in my head. has manuci, who was the chief of police and a member of the ku klux klan. same guy. no other person could have evoked that kind of response from the people who were with me

in a cell. no other event could have forced us to poll why are we here? why did we answer? what does this mean? what is it significance? martin luther king was extraordinary. and he was extraordinary in another way that you don't see much today. to him, justice was a seamless web. you said it well in your introduction. justice wasn't just for blacks. he was deeply outraged by anti-semitism. deeply outraged by racial profiling and by the treatment of immigrants. he spoke out against soviet jews in the same power. he condemned anti-semitism when it came from black leaders, especially when it came from black leaders. martin luther king was a person of conscious.

he was willing to face great unpopularity even in the black community. i remember the riots that broke out when martin luther king decided to come out against the war in vietnam because he decided in his own judgment that it was wrong but it was regarded by many black leaders as inpolitic. unwise. dangerous to the interests of the community. that never stopped martin luther king. martin luther king embodied the conscious of america. he stirred my conscious. it was injustice. and hitlerism and anti-semitism which turned me to social activism. faith came later. faith came later. martin luther king was as great a contributor to that as anybody that i met in my whole life. he died in memphis but the conscious of martin luther king did not die. it stirs us still. [applause]

>> thank you, so much, al, for that. and i realize that we have a television audience so i am going to tell just a sentence about you so those watching on television will be able to identify the others here. al vorsman is director of sporblee action for reform judaism and the author of many books "tough moral choices of our time." he also authored "giants of justice." dr. ingrid madison is professor at the mcdonald center for islamic studies and christian-muslim relations and also the president of the islamic society in north

america. >> well, i certainly feel that i'm surrounded by giants today and i'm humbled to be among these great men. you wrote a book about giants. you yourself will be a chapter and addendum to that in the future. i'm grateful to the legacy of what you have done with martin luther king. tonight we're here to remember his legacy but it is important for us to be grateful and to show that appreciation for all of those who made his work successful. because it couldn't have been done alone. i'm very humbled to be here. you know, when we hear you speak about being thrown in jail, for either eating at a lunch counter and willing handed over to the ku klux klan, it is unimaginable to many who did not live through that time. and that's important.

it's important for us to grasp that sense of it being unimaginable. because what that points to is that during that time in the middle of the struggle, it would have been unimaginable to many of those people that we would be here today. that we would be living in a time when not only would whites and blacks be sitting together eating, marrying, being the closest of friends, but there would be an african-american running for president of the united states. that there would be a woman running for president of the united states. that there would be a jewish museum in new york that has such a place of prominence and that people from all faiths are coming to in humility and appreciation. for me, the relationship between

faith and social justice hinges on the imagination that faith gives me that confidence that there are other things possible. there is a reality that is possible that is not fantasy, but is achievable with work ux with struggle -- with struggle but it begins with vision and i think this is why it is the first four words of martin luther king's famous speech that resonates mostly with us. "i have a dream." it is that ability first to be able to say that the reality that we're living in and when we're talking about social justice, we're not talking about simple change. it is not a question of changing one relationship or one law but as deeply affecting the social structure, the economic

structures. laws at all different levels. regulation. municipalities, counties, states. how many changes had to happen in society 40 years ago for us to be where we are today? and many people fall back into pessimism. they say it is impossible. tds impossible for things -- it is impossible for things to change. people will never change. when i hear people discussing many of the problems that plague global communities i hear things like well, those are rivalries and hatreds that have gone on for thousands of years. people will never change. and that kindor pessimism speaks to me to a lack of i -- imagination whether secular or sacred. i get my confidence and courage

and strength from that belief that all things are possible with god. and that we are his instruments and his servants to make that change possible. there is a beautiful verse in the koran that says perhaps god will put love between in the hearts of those who you now consider your enemies. perhaps -- can you imagine it and what is interesting about it -- the wording of this verse is that it is those who you now consider enemies. not that they are your enemies. but that it is a question of perception and you have to be able to imagine even in the midst of passionate emotions, negative feelings and perhaps even real struggles that is political, that maybe even military, that in the middle of that there is a possibility that

one day you will be friends and not only friends but people with love for each other. you were saying before we began about how at the end of the second world war you vowed to never speak to a japanese person, to always hate them and that changed in you and how many of us, all of us have had that experience both individually and in our societies and for me, that really is the beginning point of -- of a successful relationship between faith and social change. [applause] >> next we'll hear from reverend dr. calvin o. butts iii, president of the state university new york college. dr. butts? >> thank you. mine is an inherited faith that

found its fruition through practice and imitation. my spirituality comes largely out of practice in worship and imitation of those who went before me, primarily my parents. i inherited the faith of my parents. they took me to church, encouraged me in church and it was there in the worship experience of church, primarily the sunday school, that i learned about god. in that learning, i learned a number of things, most important, scripture. scripture that said one day the lion and the lamb would lie down

together. that said the land would flow with milk and honey. that every valley would be exalted and every mountain and hill made low. i would hear that over and over and over again. one of the things that struck me about a rabbi from nazareth was that one of the scriptures that he quoted in the beginning of his ministry said that the spirit of the lord was upon him. because it had anointed him to preach good news to the poor. the recovery of sight to the blind. to proclaim the favorite year of the lord to let the broken victims go free. these things stuck with me because i heard them over and over. i heard them in the context of sunday school. i heard them in the context of worship. but they began to live for me in

the person of martin luther king jr. i understood the notion of salvation through sacrifice. i would hear the scripture that you are to forgive 70 times seven. i would hear that you ought to love your enemies and pray for those who spitefully use you. i guess i would pick up elements in the behavior of my parents and my relatives but it was made very real in the life of dr. king. i was influenced heavily by any number of great prophets. malcolm x. i read intensely, frederick

douglass. hmp arriet tubman. read about them. so many more. but dr. king was there. he was present. he was tangible. palpable. you could -- i never touched him but you know. the miracle of television. [laughter] and i would sit in the living room and watch the marches. when i was a younger man. and then my mother went to the march on washington and i looked for her in the crowd and i could feel the energy and i could hear the words of that prophet, that rabbi, love your enemies. and i saw the pictures of the ku klux klan on television saying we're going to get you, negro. i would look at my mother.

she would say don't worry. i would see the hatred in terms of burning buses and mobs overturning buses. i would read about a man who had his brains knocked out with an axe handle. unitarian minister. i believe james reid. the three young men. i followed that. and i would hear in dr. king and see it, love your enemies. pray for those who spitefully use you. turn the other cheek. my god, how do you do that as a young man who is angry? and i would remember the sunday school lesson. these only come out by prayer

and fasting. your spirituality develops and you begin to understand how deeply what this rabbi from nazareth and this man leading this non-violent army and then the ultimate, the devastation of it all but yet salvation of it all. he is assassinate. the rabbi was nailed to a tree. his forerunner got his head cut off. and then you say there is no salvation without the shedding of blood. i thought that the only thing about the non-violent movement that anybody can say was that it was anything but non-violent. it was filled with bloodshed and hatred and yet, dr. king's voice echoing that young rabbi coming out of the tora i believe, love

your enemy. what? and he was assassinated. he was crucified. and then i couldn't get it. my spirituality was shattered for a moment. and i was angry. but the root was good. so even though the flower faded for a moment, it was to blossom again in the recognition that there was -- because we see that is development of deep spirituality. we look and see the crucifixion and for my particular religious experience, through the resurrection. i was trying to figure it out. but the power was it comes back again.

christ will rise again. you can kill the dreamer but not the dream. all the scriptures come back and so your spirituality deepens and therefore by the time i get to ministry, i received a call. then i know what i have to do based on my spirituality. go out. proclaim the lord, preach good news to the poor. recovery of sight to the blind, let the broken victims go free. what are your wages? well, you can get killed but by then your spiritual aweds aity is another rabbi. your spiritual audacity is so spiritually rooted that you're not worried about that anymore. you remember dr. king's words. i would like to live a long live. longevity has its place but it really doesn't matter with me

now because i've been to the mountain top and i've seen the promised land. so with that faith, i go about doing what it is i feel god has called me to do and in whatever arena i find myself and thanking god for the presence of the young rabbi who yet lives for me and for the memory of martin luther king jr. [applause] >> reverend nakagaki is a minister of new york buddhist church. former president of the buddhist council of new york and the bude itself chaplain at columbia university. >> greetings to everyone. actually i'm going to start with the -- one thing i was

interested was the non-violence part. my tradition as a buddhist -- i grew up in japan. some parts are not -- with the other people but the part with the non-violence, the way he always used, i that you understand going back to gandhi. back to the king who was actually -- he became the peacemaker and was influenced by the buddhists too. it comes to the way of understanding of the buddhism and part of the buddhist practice is actually -- probably two things if i make it so simple. cultivating the wisdom, to be able to see things, what's really going on and eyes are very important.

if you don't have eyes to see what is really going on, you may have a problem. once you have is eye, they have to understand interdependence. may happiness is not just that i become happy. it is not just the happiness, everybody else become happy. if you have such eyes, what comes out is the compassion. so the second part of the important aspect of buddhism is compassion. you practice the compassion as well. that's -- the non-violence that martin luther king jr. practiced. that part is really connected. i don't know what i should talk about? little personal parts? i was at the university, a buddhist university and i belong to sort of like