(Greg Thomas / staff)

Yolanda King, the eldest child of Martin Luther King Jr., speaks at Stewart Theatre as part of the university's 2003 MLK Commemoration.

Yolanda King, the eldest child of Martin Luther King Jr., spoke on campus Wednesday morning as part of the 2003 MLK Commemoration.

A near-capacity audience at Stewart Theatre listened as King explained how she still holds dear her father's dreams of social justice and equality. "My father warned us over 30 years ago that if we did not begin to reverse our priorities, make people more important than profits, peace more important than war, it will ultimately affect the very fiber of our society, our communities and filter into the lives of all of us," King said

King said that our lives are based on one choice at a time. "We can throw up our hands in frustration and decide it's hopeless, we can bury our heads in the sand and try to ignore the truth, or we can choose to get up off our apathy and get to the task at hand. We can choose to believe in the possibility of a better day and doing our part to bring that day to pass," King said.

King said that when her father went to Washington, D.C., and gave his now famous "I have a dream" speech, he didn't want to leave the nation's capitol. She said her father wanted to stay and engage government leaders in discussions on how to help the nation's poor.

King says her father's dream is still alive, but elusive. "That is why the King holiday is so important. It provides us an opportunity to assess where we are and allows us to re-inspire ourselves to move forward," King said.

However, she added that her father might be a little disappointed at the King holiday as we know it. "He would want the holiday to be about deeds and not lip service; about reflection and not recreation; about service and not shopping."

She challenged the audience to look inward, to ask tough questions: "How courageous am I in standing up against discrimination and hate? What am I doing to pursue justice and peace?"

King says at the heart of her father's philosophy was the concept of service and she asked the audience to serve in the community.

Audience members listened intently to King, a dynamic and animated speaker, greeting her with rousing applause several times during her talk.

King is in the middle of a 12-city tour that coincides with the national holiday honoring her father's birthday.

Posted January 15, 2003

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