Edwards Keynotes "Realizing the Dream" MLK Sunday - Jan 14 (Riverside Church, NYC)

"Error: You've already recommended that thread."

Guest speakers include Martin Luther King III, Senator John Edwards, The Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, jr., and Marian Wright Edelman.

Realizing the Dream Inc. is an organization founded by M.L.K. III to empower people and communities to take charge of their lives; they have been traveling throughout America this past year visiting distressed communities. Lessons have been learned and programs are being fashioned to respond to the needs of the people they have met along the way.

In 2006, we initiated the “Realizing the Dream.” service at The Riverside Church to commemorate Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and also uplift the principles that he articulated in his historic speech at Riverside. In that speech Dr. King laid the groundwork for a comprehensive campaign against a dehumanizing foreign policy and structural economic inequality.

As we enter 2007, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday is a chance to once again reflect on what has and has not been achieved. What would Dr. King say if he knew that the number of Americans living in poverty equals the population of twenty-five states? What would he say if he knew that it is now easier for a poor child in Britain or France to advance socially than a poor child in America? What would he say to rising education and healthcare costs, while the real wages of many working Americans stagnate or decline?