MLK’s Son Carries On Dream

Martin Luther King III says racial profiling and police brutality will be the focus of this Saturday’s civil rights event held on the spot where his father gave the movement its defining theme nearly four decades ago.

“My father stated that he hoped his four little children would live in a world where they were not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” King told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “I would’ve hoped that day would have arrived, but unfortunately it has not.”

King and the Rev. Al Sharpton, the New York City civil rights activist, will be the main speakers at the base of the Lincoln Memorial for the event, which occurs two days short of the 37th anniversary of the elder King’s “I Have a Dream” speech that electrified the civil rights cause.

The 1963 speech drew a crowd estimated at the time at more than 250,000. While organizers for the “Redeem the Dream” event declined to estimate a turnout, their permit allows up to 30,000 people to join them on the National Mall.

King, who is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said speaking where his father once addressed the nation was a heavy burden.

“I have a heavy heart and a major task. No one can truly follow Martin Luther King Jr.,” he said. “My objective has always been to further the work that he started.”

Sharpton said he and King had chosen the 37th anniversary of the elder King’s speech because of the millennial election year and the need for immediate action. He said he would consider the event a success if the White House and Congress were motivated to outlaw racial profiling and combat police brutality.

“We’re not looking for a one-day event; we’re looking to start a new policy-driven movement that will get results,” Sharpton said in an interview.

While the lineup of speakers for the noon event has not been completed, Sharpton said that victims of police brutality will address the crowd, including Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who in 1997 was brutalized with a broken broomstick in a New York police station.

Also scheduled to speak are Kadiatou and Saikou Diallo, parents of Amadou Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea in West Africa. He was shot 19 times in 1999 in the vestibule of his apartment building by New York police officers who said they feared he was reaching for a gun. The only object found was his wallet.

The parents are seeking federal civil rights action against the four police officers who shot and killed their son. All four were acquitted of murder charges at trial. The Diallos also are suing them and the city of New York for $81 million in a civil suit alleging wrongful death.

Coretta Scott King, wife of the slain leader, and other principals from the 1963 march also will speak at the event, which will be co-hosted by comedian Chris Tucker.

Rev. Walter Fauntroy, a former congressional delegate for the District of Columbia, and other local clergymen have been assisting the organizers.

Event organizers have had some problems getting phone lines because of the Verizon telephone strike, and as of Wednesday afternoon, the event’s Web site was displaying a message that it had been “taken down indefinitely.”

People seeking information can call (877) 973-3336 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. EDT until Saturday.