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Mrs. Rosa Parks protest also helped create a new leader, a minister named Martin Luther King. He accepted the stewardship of Montgomery's movement against segregation bus seating, and his eloquest voice propelled him into the leadership of a growing national movement, a position he held until his assasination in 1968.

The modern civil rights movement, and the works of its prophet which we celebrate today, were constructed on a series of actions and events stretching back into the geginning [sic] of African slavery on American soil; from then until now, from Gabriel Prosser through Martin Luther King and our times today, there has been a certain continuity in this struggle.

Think if you will of the magnitude and cruelty of American slavery. 60 million live souls sailed from West Africa in chains — only 15 million survived the holocaust of the Middle Passage. Once here, the African quickly revolted against being another man's property — Hispanola in 1522; Cuba in 1533; Mexico in 1537 — a steady, bloody stream of revolt.

Overcoming that awful heritage and remembering those revolts ought to be part of today's celebration as well.

Martin Luther King would have been 56 years old had he been able to celebrate his birthday in 1985.

Had he lived until today, there's no doubt our world would be different than it is.

Because he did live, when he did we live in a world a little better than we might have, a world a little less filled with fear and hate.