From the Archives: Students and City Officials Speak on Why MLK Jr. Still Matters

This article first appeared on Mentor Patch on Jan. 17, 2011.

I thought it would be a timely reminder of why Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream still matters.

Bear in mind, because this article is from the archives, Donna Horrigan's sixth grade class would now all be seventh graders.

The judge, city manager and sixth-grade social studies class quoted below all received the same prompt.

They were asked, "Why does Martin Luther King Jr. still matter? In a country where we have a biracial president, what can people still learn from King's words and actions?"

Judge John Trebets

Martin Luther King Jr. still matters because he was a man of peace and vision.  We can all continue to learn from Dr. King's words and actions.  We commemorate his inspiring words, contributions as America's greatest champion of racial injustice and equality, and America's pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence.

We commemorate the timeless values he taught as by example ... values of courage, humility, compassion, truth, justice, and service above self.

Mentor City Manager Kenneth Filipiak

Dr. King will matter through the ages because he exemplified in a historically unparalleled way some of the most virtuous qualities of man and those we strive to call American virtues.  He is one of the most courageous men in American history, placing himself at the forefront of a movement that guaranteed extreme risk to his personal safety and that of his family.

He taught us how to stand up to oppression and hatred, and to address seemingly insurmountable differences between people, with civility and without sacrificing the dignity of either side.  And he showed that any person, regardless of the immutable characteristics of birth, can lead a people and nation toward discovering its better nature.  We will always benefit from his example.

Donna Horrigan's second-period, sixth-grade social studies class at

The words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. still matter because without him America would not be united as we are today. People of different races would still be segregated, and Barack Obama would probably not be our president. Dr. King opened our eyes to the truth and made us realize that people are all the same, regardless of their skin color. Without his contributions we wouldn’t be able to call ourselves a free country.

Our country now has a biracial president, which shows the tremendous progress we have made since the civil rights movement. From this we can learn that no matter what color we are, we can accomplish anything.  Because of the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr., people of all colors can achieve their dreams. He taught us to solve our problems not with violence, but with peace. We can make changes with a peaceful protest or a speech. Words speak louder than a thousand armies.  MLK’s dream is coming true.