Dr. King's legacy must be remembered

[In commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we republish a post by the late Jim Hamilton from January 20, 2014, honoring Dr. King and his legacy.]

By Jim Hamilton, J.D., LL.M.

"I was taking a part of the South to transplant in alien soil. To see if I could respond to the warmth of other suns."

- Richard Wright

"Rosa Parks rode it. Dr. King paved it. It’s cicadas making noise with a Southern Voice."

- Tim McGraw

In her prize-winning book, "The Warmth of Other Suns,’" New York Times reporter Isabel Wilkerson details the Great Migration of six million Southern African-Americans to the North and West to escape the segregated South. Because of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who we celebrate today, no one has to seek the warmth of other suns. In fact, there is now occurring a reverse migration back to the South. One of the great achievements of Dr. King is that this civil right revolution was accomplished largely non-violently. In our age of sometimes bitter legislative partisanship, we must remember that Dr. King appealed to our sense of common humanity and a shared sense of social justice. In this 50th anniversary year of the War on Poverty, Dr. King's concern for poverty and the opportunity for all people to rise out of poverty should be remembered. We must never forget his legacy.