Martin Luther King, Jr.,
born January 15, 1929
is universally known as a non-violent beacon of light
in the American civil rights movement in the 1960s
whose life was taken prematurely by the bullet of a sniper
as he stood on the balcony of his hotel room in Tennessee in 1968
 
In his most famous speech,
“I Have a Dream”, delivered in 1963,
he spoke of his dream of a United States
that is void of segregation and racism.
 
King gave his last sermon the day befor ehe was shot, saying, “We’ve got some difficult days ahead.
But it really doesn’t matter with me now,
because I’ve been to the mountaintop …
And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain.
And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land.
I may not get there with you.
But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people,
will get to the promised land.”
 
his words are as true now as they were 50+ years ago
and as we celebrate him today
let us not forget the life that he lived
let us not forget
we too have been allowed to go up the mountaintop
and we hold dear to us the vision
that one day, all people no matter race, religion, border or sex
will be treated with honor and dignity and respect
 
we are one race, the human race
and we all deserve to be treated equally
we are all connected.
we are better together
we are the mosaic.