THE ED MYLETT SHOW - A More Just Nation - w/ Martin Luther King III

Episode Date: February 9, 2021

Today I’m as honored as I have ever been to host my show. Topics like poverty, racism, and violence are rarely discussed at a level as deep as we go in this conversation Martin Luther King III is an American human rights advocate and the oldest son of my hero and civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King. Throughout his life, Martin Luther King, III has worked with individuals deeply committed to the struggle for human rights and a nonviolent society. Martin's dedication to creating and implementing strategic nonviolent action to rid the world of social, political, and economic injustice has propelled him to the forefront as one of the nation's most ardent advocates for the poor, the oppressed, and the disillusioned. It is truly my honor to have Martin Luther King III as my guest on The Ed Mylett Show! In this interview, Martin and I get REAL about the state of our country in regards to poverty, racism, and violence. With the saturation of these issues in the media, the world can no longer pretend injustices don’t exist, but now that we know it exists, how do we take action and course correct? 
 We discuss our views on how we, as a nation, can eradicate poverty and create a culture of non-violence - a dream we know the great Dr. Martin Luther King fought so hard for. And while we strive to create a more just nation, we should also strive to become the next best version of OURSELVES. Martin shares how his father was able to remain relentless in the pursuit of his dreams in the midst of unthinkable harassment and death threats… and what YOU can do to embody that same drive to reaching your dreams. This much-needed conversation will touch your heart and motivate you to TAKE ACTION for yourself and for others! 👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈  → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ▶︎ INSTAGRAM ▶︎ FACEBOOK  ▶︎ LINKEDIN ▶︎ TWITTER ▶︎ WEBSITE

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Today is a very, very special day for me. I'm honored to have this gentleman on our program. I was telling him as we got started. His father was my hero. I wrote my college dissertation on his dad and the more that I've got to know, more about him. I count him as another one of my heroes. So I'm honored to have him here during Black History Month, but I'll be honored to have him here any day of any month of any year.

So Martin Luther King III, welcome to the program. Thank you. I'm so honored to join you today. Well, you join us at such an interesting time in our culture and in our world. And by the way, everybody, as we go through this, I want to have a really productive conversation. So give Martin and I both a little bit of grace. If you don't agree with someone's politics or viewpoint, you know, you get into these topics, you can have the surface conversation that really nothing gets accomplished or you can really talk about things that are a little bit uncomfortable.

And so if I use the wrong word or phrase something the way you don't like, just know my intention is progress. And I know that that's Mr. Kings as well. So give us some grace as we have this beautiful conversation. So I'll give you some Martin, that's for sure. Thank you. And vice versa. Wonderful. So how do you feel about where things are in the world, right?

So obviously been an interesting year. The progress side, we elected the first ever African-American, she's multi ethnic, but black woman is the vice president of the United States comes off after, after electing a few years back, our first black president, yet the George Floyd incident happens, which shed light on, you know, the systemic problems that we still have in society was an interesting year that way. How do you feel about the state of race and social issues in the United States right now, particularly in our country? So that's a very, very, very interesting

question because I feel I always try to look at things in a positive way, as opposed to, you know, you could look at a cup is half empty or half full. While I certainly am not happy about the divisions that exist in our nation, and I think it's healthy to have debate and discussion. But I think we as human beings, being from my perspective, the highest creation of God, should operate in a different and more civil way, even if we disagree. I think my father showed us how to disagree without being disagreeable through his techniques. Whether you agreed with him or not, you had to hopefully respect the manner

in which he approached an issue. So what I'm disappointed about is that in 2021, or certainly in 2020, but certainly as well, 2021, we still have not addressed one of the evils that my father characterized as a triple evil. And he talked about eradicating for my nation poverty, racism, and he said militarism, but I sold or changed militarism to violence. So poverty, racism, and violence. Racism is where our start very, very briefly, because we are far better as a nation and as human beings and much of the behavior that we see exhibited from time to time. And so we find ourselves at a crossroads where we were operating as a divided state of America as opposed to a United States of America. But I just believe that when it comes to racial intolerance and racial justice,

I mean, I was very certainly proud to see more civil rights demonstrations. I should first say, tragically, seeing the death of George Floyd. It certainly impacted millions of people. Why do I say that? I think because for the first time, and it may be probably because of the pandemic, the tragedy of the pandemic, people were at home watching it immediately on the news, seeing an officer whose job is to protect and serve becoming judged, jury, and seemingly executioner all in one. And so it didn't feel right what it caused was massive demonstrations all over our nation, but not just our nation. We had demonstrations in every state of our nation. The largest civil rights demonstrations ever. That has never happened. Many of those were led by young white people

and older white people in some communities. I remember an older white woman in Arkansas saying that when that young man called for his mother, it galvanized mothers all over the place. And all over the place literally because demonstrations were taking place in Europe. Demonstrations were taking place in Australia. Demonstrations were taking place on the African continent. Demonstrations were taking place in South America and demonstrations in Canada

along with the United States. So these have been the largest demonstrations that we've ever seen in our lifetime. Now, to me, what that means is our world acknowledged that there is a problem that we have to address. You know, you can act as if it doesn't exist. For many years, we didn't talk about it under President Obama. You know, we acted as if we were post-racial, but it was real. And we should have had those discussions back then. But certainly, you know, what President Trump

probably one day when we evaluated truly, he helped to bring the issue out because of the way he chose to approach it. Not so much from a resolution standpoint, but the fact that he gave people who had racial views, a level of comfort now so that they could do and say anything. So now we know that the problem exists and now we can begin to address it as a collective.

And not just in the United States, because this problem is a global problem. Yeah, a lot of my black friends have said to me, you know, I've had friends of mine say, you know, wow, there's really more of this now. And they're saying, no, there's just cell phones. There's a little bit easier to prove, you know, to reveal it. And so I didn't mean to cut you off. But I think sometimes people think, wow, this stuff's really on the

rise. Well, my friends tell me, this isn't on the rise. This is just coming to the light finally to your point. And so I didn't mean to interrupt you there. But I just thought I'd make that point for people that are very valid point. Yeah. Yeah. The only thing else I was going to add was that again, dad talked about poverty, racism, and violence. In our nation, we, we, we purport to have about 45 million people living in poverty. But if you talk to Reverend William Barber who leads the poor people's movement in campaign, and you may know just, you know, I'm sure, just because of your research. But I don't know if all those who are listening

may know. My father, his last campaign that he was working on was called the Poor People's Campaign, where he was attempting to mobilize poor blacks and poor whites and poor Native Americans and a man and Hispanic and a Latino and Asian Americans Americans from all walks of life to galvanize people to say look we we want to create the climate for a decent job with decent pay, a living wage. Of course, he did not live to see that come to fruition. That was to have taken place in May of 1968. He was killed in April of 1968. But my higher point is there's some who say statistical data says 45 million people roughly. Well, Reverend Barbara and other institutions say they are well over 100 million people in the United States who are living at the poverty level, particularly families of four or two, a mother and a father and two children.

And when you look at the wages, they really are poverty wages. Now, that really should be unacceptable in the United States of America, particularly when you have trillions and trillions of dollars circulating, even with a very difficult economy. It's obviously with the pandemic, they are different dynamics now than perhaps have existed. But prior to the pandemic, they are different dynamics now than perhaps have existed.

But prior to the pandemic, the question becomes why do we continue to allow in this nation with all the abundance that exists? I mean, there is an unlimited amount of abundance. But we don't operate and live that way because we choose to embrace something different. And so as a result, we have millions of people that really do need help. And I don't mean necessarily giving a man a fish.

There are people that we will have to provide food for, maybe always. But if you teach people how to fish, they can feed themselves and their families for lifetime. And somehow we've missed that along the way. So again, addressing racism, addressing poverty. And then violence is something that we've allowed as well to exist. We've created a culture of violence through television programming, or movies through cartoons, even through our gaming industry,

and kids pay all kinds of games. So if we want to, maybe we need to think about, how do we change the culture? So that maybe we can create a culture of non-violence, a culture that is uplifting, that's more wholesome. And maybe these are values that we as a society need to look at. I'll stop. No, I love it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, This is why I wanted to have you on because we're gonna unpack all of that and we'll go in and guys I think all three of those issues are connected as well. So poverty and race is connected in this country So is violence unfortunately if you're poor you live in typically a more violent Neighborhood as well and so that we're gonna unpack all of that stuff and so I want to talk about some solutions because it's interesting

I want to talk about something you believe in that your dad believed in. So the first time, let's talk about poverty and then we'll go back into race and we'll keep kind of floating around. When it comes to poverty, first time I ever heard of universal basic income was from reading on your dad. And then just kind of went away. And then I had Andrew Yang on my show. And it's something that he proposed. And I wasn't so sure how I felt about it. I lean politically. I'm very socially, very liberal, because my dad very, very liberal guy.

But I've made a little bit of money in my life. So fiscally, I'm a little bit conservative, right? So I kind of lean. I don't have a party anymore, I guess. But so Universal Base King, come on thinking, well, that's a liberal idea. Then I look it up. Actually Milton Friedman, who was a party anymore, I guess. But, so universal basic income thinking, well, that's a liberal idea. Then I look it up, actually Milton Friedman, who was a conservative economist, was the guy,

one of the first guys ever to construct it. So, if you're listening to this, be open-minded. Okay, so, I'd like you to talk about that, because I think that could be one of the solutions in this country, particularly if it were connected to, as you've said, some sort of training, because as the economy changes technologically, this poverty gap is going to become more and more vast of people aren't learning skills that'll let them

function in this economy. We obviously can't sustain just as you've said, giving fish away long term. And so I'd like you to take, because I know it's something you're passionate about too, what's your version of how universal basic income might look and why do you think it might be a good idea? So I think, you know, first of all, as you stated as well, in addition to economists talking about it, my father proposed it, and honestly, the reason Martin Luther King Jr. was killed had nothing to do with much

with the issue of race, other than the fact that he was becoming. He was becoming, I think, more seen as a real individual who could unify blacks and whites and, you know, the poor people's campaign was a frightening proposition for some, but the fact of the matter is if we look at things today, almost 52% of the wealth is controlled by less than 1% of the population. And while I want everyone to make as much money as they can, I think that's a remedy for disaster in terms of the direction that we're headed. The wealthy can't continue to get more wealthy and the poor get more poor without it ultimately being a destructive or an implosion of some kind.

One of the things Yang talked about too that intrigued me was, because you know, if you're conserved, you go, hey, these government programs haven't worked. So we've proposed all these programs all these years, and it's getting worse. To which Andrew would say, and I think I'm starting to say, yeah, maybe you're right. And so Andrew was suggesting that we get it to a number that's sufficient enough that perhaps some of these other things wouldn't be necessary because you're getting the income directly instead of going through all these bureaucracies. And so this is not an idea, basically what it is, it's capitalism

that just doesn't start at zero. And it's something that I've really taken a look at everybody and I'm intrigued by this idea. It's one of the things, you know, you always have these conversations, okay. This stuff happened with George Floyd. You know, we had all of these protests and rallies. And okay, so what's the solution that we can move forward?

And when it comes to poverty this is one of the things on the table that there may be consensus for that I'm so glad to hear that you that you speak about it that way. The other thing I just want to point out to everybody too is what we've in and out is, is you hear Martin discuss these issues with the balance that you hear. This is a young man, people forget, Martin Luther King Jr died at 39 years old. This was a young man. And Martin was there when there were burning crosses in their front yard.

There's a photograph of you standing there with your dad, with the cross. And yet for you to come out of all of that and still have the you can just feel your love you can feel it when you speak. It's one of the things in researching you and following you these years that you share that your father had as well but I'm curious you said you don't think your father was killed because of race and we can't move off of that that was kind of a bold

statement. Could you allow that a little bit? Yeah let me let me extrapolate just a tiny bit because I I shouldn't have said that I should have said it and framed it as not only race. Race was art of it, but the race issue had to do with the fact that he was able to speak to audiences beyond the black community and have fraction. You know, think about the fact that if you bring all the poor together of every ethnic group, and they believe what you're saying and believe in you, someone is going to be frightened about that.

Now I'm not suggesting that racist would not have wanted to see him going as well, but I'm saying that there was a confluence of things that have, including his talking about this radical redistribution of wealth, this concept of a living wage, this concept that maybe, the, I mean capitalism always says that they'll have to be a lower class of some kind.

And it works around that to some degree. But I'm not an economist or anywhere in the vicinity of an economist, because in my mind, I've always felt, okay, so we pay taxes, and our taxes should, in theory theory help to create better goods and services. So if people are working in a full employment economy, for example, at decent wages, they have more discretionary capital to go and spend on something else from the economy that helps live in theory. Yeah. But obviously it's not quite like that. I mean, there's some nuances there.

There are, but Martin, you know, the thing you're saying is really true. Like in capitalism, I think it's okay that there's a lower middle and upper classes are really terrible term. But in terms of income, lifestyle, that's going to happen in almost any economic structure. The question is, in our current capitalist society, what does the baseline level of quality of life look like? Whether it's low, middle, or high. If I'm at the level that's, you know, the baseline level, should my children not get a good education? Should I not have a safe neighborhood around me? Should I not have access to healthy food? right? And those aren't things that are a big ask and a well-developed country.

And to your point, if you go too long, where that disparity gets that way, you are heading to something that could really not be pretty and it can get to where it becomes violent if you don't care for people the right way. And I think what you said, the right word. And again, I know my conservative friends listen, they're like, I'm not so sure. Listen, it's a value. I love the term that it's a value. And so thank you for saying that. I'm going to ask you a difficult

race question. So here we go. So, and again, give me grace, everybody, when I ask this, here's how I grew up. I grew up in California. So, you know, I grew up around everybody. So, next door to the right was Tony and Eleanor. They were a black family. To the left was Allen. He's an Asian-American. Across the street was Eddie Padea. He's a Mexican-American.

Three doors down, where's the same family. They're Indian-Americans. So, I got, I have a liberal dad. I was raised, as your father said, not to judge people on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character. So here's the hard thing for me. When you're a, I'm a white guy, right?

So I then sort of told all my life to be that way. Yet it seems more and more we're drifting into people being identified by race. And before I have the answer to that, I understand that as a white guy, when I walk in a room, it's a neutral thing. And then if you're a black man in many rooms, you walk into whether you like it or not, you are judged by the content of your, not if you're content of your care about the color of your skin. So I'm sensitive to that question. But do you agree with me? And I'm just wondering, like,

is there a point where that's not healthy that it almost feels like we're becoming almost tribal in nature sometimes that we're so identified by race. Is there a point where maybe that's necessary now in order to make change, but long term, we do need to get beyond that as an identifying factor in people. And do you understand what I mean when I say that? It's a very complex and confusing dynamic. Well, yes, we do. We have to go through a Process and maybe a longer process than we would like to and I guess what I mean by that is You know, I think every ethnic group every Community has pride within its culture and there's nothing wrong with that

You know we call ourselves the United States of America, but do we really operate that way? You know, so for example, from my perspective, as a black man, oftentimes, I've seen, oftentimes I've seen maybe not so much my own circumstances, but I've seen black people oftentimes not seen. There's a book that Ralph Ellison wrote, The Invisible Man. And it doesn't mean you have to be black to understand it, but if your experience has been totally different,

for example, I think many whites could not relate and steal today to how policemen have sometimes treated blacks, not because they are racist or bad people, but that's not their experience. When blacks are stopped by policemen, oftentimes it's a hostile situation, and it's over and over and over again. Well, white's experience is totally different.

And so if we all are willing to take off whatever glasses we have on that only deal with our own situations and look at it a Broadway, then we can understand. I think George Floyd helped us as a society better understand what happens from time to time. This is not, that's, that's the worst of what could happen. That does not happen every day, but it happens far too frequently. And it happens so frequently in communities of color. So we've got to overcome that.

Now, what your specific question was, is does it serve us, I think, to embrace a concept of, I'm black, I'm white, I'm Native American, and I think it serves us to some degree, but at some point we must become a collective under the notion of I'm an American. That's the ideal, but it's going to take time for us to really get there. Because, you know, and I think part of how we get there, you know, we're right, as you said, we're an African-American history mom.

Some would question, well, why do we have to have a month that talks about black history? Because unfortunately, African-American history is not really incorporated into the generally in most curriculums. You know, now, California may be different because there's a large Latino, Hispanic population. So there is Latino, maybe history incorporated. Maybe Texas is slightly different.

But most states, I mean, most of our history is taught from a Western and European perspective. And while that's good history, that's not all history. And so until we have, when our history books open, one day, ideally, I would like to see us live in a nation where when we open our history books in August or September, we are studying all the different ethnic groups that exist within our nation. And when we close our history books,

when school closes for the summer in May or June, that we are still studying all the different ethnic groups, that's the ideal way, but we got a long way to go. So we need to study Black History Month, right? Black, it acknowledge it, you know, because the things are important. I mean, something as simple as a traffic light that was created by Garrett Morgan,

who is an African-American. There are many Americans who probably don't even know that. And it's, but whatever reason it's not taught, it's doing black history month, maybe we will segue and teach it. So anyway, no, you're right. That's the concept of a melting pot. And our education system should have the same pot, right? And the same people melting in it. And I think it's a nuanced conversation because I understand that right now it would be impossible for us not to be able to say, listen, I'll give you an example when George Floyd happened, I had these conversations prior, but I think a lot of people have them that, you know, many of my black buddies are like, hey, you don't understand this. All of us prepare our son or our daughter for the interaction in the inevitable event

they're pulled over by a police officer. So, that's one of those sort of invisible things that subtle and quite frankly, I have a 19 year old son and a 17 year old daughter. I never even considered having that conversation. So, that should tell those of you that wonder still, of course, there's a difference. Of course, there's a difference. So I understand that we can't just be see everything blankly. Same time, that should be the ideal. And it's just a nuanced conversation. By the way, I just think it is we were talking, it would be really great if everybody walks this because I think

this is how you're supposed to discuss these issues, you know, that you actually make progress and have a discussion. I'm wondering, were you nine or 10 when your dad passed away? 10. 10. And so, you remember him. Did your dad ever, because there's people listening to this, if we said race and poverty and violence aside, there are people listening to this, not every human being, who's trying to make a difference in the world.

They're trying to live their dream. It could be starting a business, their chasing a relationship, or, and man, this last year, everyone's been really knocked down. Did you ever, did your father ever think of giving up? I mean, was there a point where these lives being threatened regularly, there's crosses burning, there's, there's the emotional burden of carrying the load of what he was carrying is tremendous, right? I know it's like the carrier company never mind a culture. Did your dad ever confide with your mom or with you?

Or did you ever see him in a moment of a just don't know if I've got what it takes? I might pack it in here. Did that ever happen? Well, let me, let me characterize it this way. Consciously no. But subconsciously probably. I remember a sermon I used to, I'm not used to, I often listen to a lot of his sermons and speeches and our daughter, my wife and I have a 12 year old. And we also expose her to her grandfather and grandmother, obviously, that she did not get a chance

to meet. But I remember a speech that he did in Montgomery. And this was like maybe 56. I wasn't even born. Okay. And what he said was, this is more inspirational. He said that one night, you know, and, and, and, my minute, the Montgomery bus boycott was 385 days of boycott of not riding the buses, black people, 60% of the ridership, because

they chose the boycott because of the treatment of Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was sitting in the black section and was told to get up by the police. And, you know, she was arrested. And so for 385 days, Black folk boycott it. And dad, Rosa Parks was a heron of that drama. Dad was the chief spokesperson and the leader of that movement. Now, doing that period of time every day there would be calls coming in from

I guess Clansman and other people. And he said this one night at midnight he got a call. And he was, he had just gotten home from a mass meeting or a planning meeting that they had late that night. And the phone rang and my mother was sleep and my sister. She was only one born.

I was born in 57. I think this was 56. And he said that when he got that call, he said it was a ugly voice. And in substance, basically it said, you know, use inward and say, you know, if you don't get out of here in five days, we're going to kill your wife and daughter or your family. And he said that bothered him even though he got calls like this literally every week. And he said he didn't know what to do.

He said he couldn't call on his mother, daddy, because they were 160 miles away in Atlanta. He couldn't call on, he tried to call on his, you know, on anything he could think of. And finally he said he got on his knees and he called out to God and said, God, I know I'm right, I know what I'm doing is right. It feels right. But he said, you know, I just don't know. And he said at that moment, he heard a voice that said to him,

Martin Luther King, stand up for righteous, stand up for justice, stand up for truth, and know that I will be with you even until the end of time. And he went on through a very high emotional, And he went on through a very high emotional, I guess, used a lot of words. And he said, that's what lifted him up at that moment. Now my point is, I'm sure he had those moments on several occasions, and he would have to go somewhere to get renewed. Sometimes it was maybe with his colleagues

who were other ministers. Sometimes it was meditation, it was self-reflection. I mean, because he was doing things that back then most of us didn't do today, we do all kinds of things that help us understand who we are. I mean, I think you have to take a vacation sometimes from watching mainstream news. Because if you watch it every day, regardless of who you're watching, you're gonna become angry and frustrated and feel like there's nothing I can do.

So you can't consume a diet of all of that. You have to take breaks. You can't constantly be engaged on social media because you're running around chasing your tail because someone is gonna always disagree with you. So you have to take breaks. But my point is dad, I think, had a lot of different support, systems that he could go to.

His greatest support, of course, was his faith. He had just phenomenal faith. And as a pastor, you're supposed to have that, but maybe every pastor, maybe every pastor does it. I don't know, but I know that he did. And that's what helped him get through these difficult times. I mean, think about the fact that, people ask me, did your father know that his time of life

was coming to an end? And you think about a speech, I've been to the mountain top. I've seen the Promised Land. You know, I may not get there with you. Yeah, true. He has a people. How, how, I mean, how can you know this without your knowing something is near in my judgment? I, you know, dad was prophetic. If you listen to his messages today, and beside the word Negro, that's what's the thing the dates it

Spaces where he uses black you said gosh that happened yesterday literally I know almost 60 years ago, but what your father had was an anointing he had an incredible prophetic way of speaking and thinking Obviously his oratory skills were unbelievably he was he was born to do what he did. I'm convinced of that and By the way, I believe you were born to do what he did. I'm convinced of that. And by the way, I believe you were born to do what you're doing right now. And but I think happy people find out what their gifts are. They're two or three special gifts God gave them and they use those gifts in the service of other people.

Again, there's a lot of work that we have to do. Now let's look at some individual progress because in all of this insanity or I don't want to just reduce it to just insanity, but we still make progress. You know, the fact, and you started off by saying that, I mean, I always thought as progressive in a sense as the United States was, aggressive in a sense as the United States was. When we first elected, it's our first black president in 2008 and he began serving in 2009,

people in Britain were saying to me, wow, that's amazing because the UK can't turn like that quickly. The United States, so we elected a black president for eight years, you know, and then we turned an elected president Trump who went in a different direction. Now we've elected President Biden and the first woman who happened to be black and Southeast Asian. So in spite of all of the confusion that's going on, we're still making progress. Today in the United States, we have probably, that we know of, about 10 black billionaires. In my father's era, I doubt if we had any.

We didn't. Pretty sure we didn't. We have many millionaires, black. So, but when it comes to the masses, the average white wealth prior to the pandemic was $175,000. The average black wealth175,000. The average black wealth was $15,000. There's a huge disparity between resources. And part of it has to do with home ownership

and all of that and generational wealth that could be passed on that just does not yet exist large enough in communities of color. It's beginning to grow. So my only point is we still are making progress, even though it is not where it needs to be. And what I agree. Yeah. I thought about people, people have asked me, should I, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

I just wanted to jump in. People have asked me if I would ever interrupt you I just wanted to jump in. No, no, no, people have asked me if I would ever run and it's interesting the only reason I would run would be to help solve poverty because I believe these things are connected. I feel like in my opinion, yeah progress has changed. Let's we elected a black man twice, right? That's progress. Having said that there are more CEOs. There's more executives in the NFL head coaches that are black. You could look at all of these different statistics, but all of the stats that we look at, where there has been progress and there has been, is still near to the middle top. So it's at the top of politics.

But I think everyone thought, well, we've elected a black president, game over, it's all fixed now, except, and I think even a lot of black folks thought that like it's going to be fixed now. It turns out that for people that live at that baseline level in our society, it hasn't changed much. They're in their actions in their communities, in their schools, with law enforcement from time to time. The food that they get, I keep going back to food. Life expectancy for black folks is less than it is for white folks. That's not genetic. That's access to many people to not as healthy food. Right. And so these things have real implications. And what has not happened at the middle and bottom of our culture is that level of progress that we need to focus on now. That's what I feel strongly about is how do we have made progress at the top of society, in polite society.

But what about the middle and bottom of our culture? And so it's one of the things you're working on that I'm passionate about. You're working with and let's engage my friends over there. And also, you know, one of the things people don't know this, but so much of Dr. King's work and now Martin's work has been involved poverty. Because in, by the way, that's directly connected often. There's a lot of white people in poverty in this country. But by percentage, by percentage, poverty still impacts people of color more often than it does any other group of people. And so the Drum Major Institute,

which is now one of your babies, that was your dad's originally. You sort of partnered and there's an athlete connection there. And so first, feature the Drum Major Institute, because it's unless you really know Dr. King's work and Martin's work, you might not know. And then also the campaign that you're running with these guys right now, because it's really awesome. So let me say, first of all, the Drum Major Institute is an organization that my father

founded. He co-founded the Seven Christian Leadership Conference, which he did a lot of his work in. But the Drummajor Foundation in 1961 was founded to bail people who went to jail for things that they thought were unjust, unjust laws. So they could be bailed out of jail. So many's were raised and my father and a lawyer, one of his lawyers, Harry Wachtell started it. The values for addressing poverty, racism, and violence

are peace, justice, and equity. So if you create peace, justice, and equity, we, I mean, not arbitrarily, but these issues can be addressed. We are involved in raising money for drum major and it's actually athletes, Terrell Owens, for example, and Justin Gottlin, and Idonis Haslin,

and Angel McCartney and a few others, where you can have an experience with these athletes. Part of it will be maybe a Zoom call, part of it may be autographed, member of beer. There are a number of items that are going to be exhibited. Now we're doing this around April 4th, which is the actual anniversary that my father was killed. So, these activities will help us raise money to continue the work and legacy of my parents. I have to ask you a question. I'm just,

what has it been like for you? I'm just watching you and I'm thinking listening to you and thinking, you watching you and I'm thinking, listening to you and thinking, you got that anointing to, you've got this gift for saying something in a way that really makes me want to think about it, where I'm, I wish more people in our politics spoke like you do, where it's like,

I don't, if you didn't even agree with something that Martin said today, I don't know that I agree, but where the way you said that, I need to consider that concept. I need to think about that. What has it been like for you to have to, not have to, but I have to imagine there's an amazing amount of responsibility. And maybe it's just difficult. You've had to carry your dad's name.

I mean, being really honest, Martin, what is that? I guess it's gotta be also a burden to some extent, to an honor and a burden. What has it been like to have to, I mean, your entire life, you've been Martin Luther King the third, right? What is that really like for you?

So again, I choose to focus on the blessing because it would be easy to focus on the burden. And I'm so thankful that my mother liberated me. Now, let me explain what I mean. At 10 years old, and even I'm told that as a child, in 1955, dad was on the stage, thrust on the stage because of lung gumbering. You know, he became a national figure

between 55 and 56 because of the. You became a national figure between 55 and 56 because of the Rosa Parks, because of Ms. Parks hitting down in him leading that Montgomery movement. So when it came to naming me in 57, my mom was not comfortable fully. Because she knew that my father was going to ultimately come sort of bigger than

life. You know she even used to say at some point that she said it's to my wife that you know Martin of the King June you couldn't fulfill Martin of the King shoes your shoes today bigger than life. Now what my mother said to me that was liberating was Martin, you be your best self. You don't have to go to more house college. You don't have to be a civil rights leader. You don't have to be a minister. Just be your best self. I remember when I was maybe 10, 11 years old, I was saying, oh, you know, I'm going to be a preacher like my daddy because that, you know, you just, I really hadn't thought about it

literally, but as I grew older, you know, I did end up going to Morales College. I did end up, I have been the head of organizations and been involved in civil rights and the leadership. I did not go into the ministry because I feel like you have to have a special calling and I did not feel that that's what God had called me to do. And so I did not do that. But the liberating point was be your best self and we will support you in any way you can. So as a result, you know, I never looked at it as trying to feel the shoes of my father. If I woke up every day thinking about that, I would be miserable and I would fail miserably.

So I'm thankful that I was allowed to be the best Martin that I can be. And that just, as I said, that was so liberating. I'm so thankful that my mom, you know, allowed that. Now let me say this very quickly because I think it's important. 1968 day I was killed April 4th on a Thursday. April 8th, he was to have led a demonstration in Memphis.

My mother led that demonstration. April 9th, we buried dad in Atlanta. We had the home-grown services one in Ebenezer, one in Morales College, and then buried, put him in, he was in tomb, temporarily out of cemetery. And then later on, when we erected the King's Center's tomb, he was brought there, his remains. But my point is, no one had been captured for the murder.

It was very dangerous, but yet my mother's understanding of who her husband was and what needed to be done, she provided that leadership. When dad and mom met in college, or at graduate school, excuse me, mom was at Boston Conservatory, a music dad was at BU. Mom had already been involved in peace demonstrations. So dad would say, my mother bought him to the peaceful,

they were all, he engaged in non-violence and led. That's amazing. By the way, I ask you about you and still you're such a kind man. But your mother is this amazing. You know, I thought I knew a lot about your dad. I did not know that just four days after his passing that she did that Reminds me of two things that I just want to tell you. It's interesting behind these men that are so well known or their women

Is two two conversations one was president bush the original president bush And those is he's rise up to a gas station with Barbara and she sees an ex-boyfriend there and president bush says to Barbara Boy, aren't you glad that you married me because you'd be married to this guy pump and gas. And she says, aren't you glad you married me because you're gonna pump and gas and he'd be president. And then as I got to know people around the Obama's very well, it's very interesting that you talked that way

about your mom sort of being there first because people that really know the Obama's very well will tell you. If you don't met the Obama's when they were at University of Chicago, you say, which one of these two is going to be the one to break out and be this powerful political leader? Most people, 90% would have told you to be Mrs. Obama because she was the more kind of active and out there one than Barack Obama was. And so it's very interesting to hear that about your mom. And I'm really glad for me personally to learn that lesson. So two last questions. I've enjoyed this so much.

What can I do if I'm a person listening to this or watching this and you say, you know, I'd like to make a difference in poverty. I'd like to make a difference in racial and social issues. What advice would you just give? I think people think I can't do anything. I'm just sitting here at my apartment or my house and just getting by in my life, what difference could I possibly make? What would you say to them? Well, the first thing I would say is that today, if you think about the movement that my father was one of the leaders of the modern civil rights movement. I mean, we have every tool that I disposal today to be able to accomplish almost any objective because of the internet. They didn't have anything but memograph machines.

And they were able to organize, you know, movements and create a strategic plan to help get a civil rights act, to help get a voting rights act, to help get fair housing legislation. So today, we have the ability to connect with any and everyone because of technology. The first thing I think someone has to do is to find out what is your passion. You know, because we only go to really have time to work on the issues that are very important to us. None of us can do everything, but every one of us can do a little bit. You know, one of the things I learned was as a kid, I went to my mom's undergraduate institution called Annie All College. And on that college was a statue of the educator, Harris Man. And under

that statue was an inscription that made a profound impact on my life. And it said, be ashamed to die until you've won a victory for humanity. And I was probably 13, 14 the first time I saw that, but I came back subsequently many times, and I kept thinking about that and how profound it is. It is shame to die, until you've won a victory for humanity. And I said, how do you do that? And I said, I said, I had to break it down. I said, you know, we can win a victory in our neighborhood.

Some of us may win victories in our schools. Some may win victories in our places of worship. Some may win victories in our city, some in our state, some in our nation, and some in our world. All those words basically mean, or be ashamed to die until you've done a little something to make the world in which we almost live a little better than it was when you arrived. I want to just say something to you and I know it doesn't need to be said, but I'm so sure your mother and father are so proud of you. And it's one of the real honors of my lifetime today to get to talk with you. I just want you to know that. And it's a, I mean, sincere honor to get a chance to speak with you. And I know you know they're proud of you. But I'm just

listening to you and watching you and just thinking, my gosh, she's so proud of you. She's so proud of you. Let me share one thing on that. And thank you so much for those comments because those comments because they were very few things that would bring tears to my eyes, but my mom at a certain point when I got to be over 18 or maybe even 25 or 30. And she would say that she said, your father would be so proud of you. And that was one of the few things where I would almost shed tears because you often wonder. I mean, again, you know, 10-year-old Martin never having a chance to have an adult conversation with that. And all we all, most of us, want to make our parents proud. And so for her to say that just meant, I mean, I may have been old at 35 or something. It made me feel really good.

I remember when I was running for public office. I ran for county commissioner here in Atlanta, which is comparable to supervisor out in California. And my mom really didn't want me to want run. So I had to demonstrate to her that this is what I wanted to do. And once I did that, you know, she was thousand percent behind. Why would you want to do that? You're going to be ostracized. You're going to be criticizing.

You know, I mean, it's a thankless job. Somebody's got to do it, but you don't have to. You know, so when I convinced her, she was my biggest cheerleader. And that was always the case. I think with my siblings as well. So I am so grateful. I really do believe that to him or her that much is given, of him or her is much required.

And we try to provide examples for our daughter, my wife and I, because as you, having children, and you want to have children know how impressionable they are, and they are sponges. And so I've noticed her, I mean, she does think sometimes that are amazing, because if I'm saying something that is wrong, he will correct me. I'm saying, wait a minute, you just got here yesterday. How you going? Yes.

But what you say, I know it's correct. Believe me, I relate to that one. And it sounds like, boy, do I relate to that one? I happen to, that happened today just so you know, about three hours before this, you listen to another column on rolling her eyes. Dad, that's not right. Stop it.

But it sounds like with your daughter, the legacy's going to continue. So last question. Listen, we've talked about sort of baseline in the world. One thing that I pride myself on is getting people to dream though in their life. And obviously probably the most famous talk your dad's ever given is I have a dream. And I just, I would be messing up if I didn't ask you this question at least. There's millions of people that are listening to this and hopefully several hundred thousand of millions that watch it too.

They're sitting there thinking, you know, I want to make a difference in the world, but also I want to I want to make my dreams happen. And you you have been up close and personal both during his life and then post to a man whose dream is still evolving every single day, but he had one of the biggest boldest dreams of all time was your fathers. And you've carried that. You said that you don't focus on the burden of it,

but I watch your face when I ask you the question. There's certainly a burden that comes with making a dream come true. Would you give any advice to people about having a dream, pursuing it? You know, anyone listening this right now, especially during COVID, it's so easy to just go, I just want to survive. I just want to get back to, but you know what, you weren't born to just get by. You were born to do something great with your life in big ways and small ways. And I don't want anybody listening to this to forget that. And I just thought maybe you would make a comment on that at the end about

anybody with a dream. What would your council be to them? So I would always say that you know we have to somehow a human species have some resilience because it's very easy to get distracted. And it really is, life is challenging today but out of every challenge, they also have great opportunities. Do you know how many times I say to people that Henry Ford may have failed,

it may have been a thousand times. That take but one. One success. That's all you need. And all of a sudden doors open up. So you can never, if you really have a dream, you should never give up on it. You continue to work even if you're an older person. If you have a dream it can be accomplished. We see it happening probably every day. We may not know about it, but every day someone is fulfilling dreams. And when I think about what our ancestors had to overcome, I mean, you know, people could have their hands cut off for reading black people that is because it was illegal for black folks to read. Somehow people have overcome. And no matter who you are, everybody,

they're people who've overcome things that it's hard to understand. But my point is, we have to take that energy and apply it and say, you know what, if they could do it, then I can do it as well. I pray everybody stayed to the end. I just hope they're still with us. God bless you. And you too. Thank you. Thank you so much for today. It was a true honor. And I'm so glad we got to do this today. So thank you so much for being here. Please follow Martin on social media. You guys get involved with the campaign on Let's engage and and thank you again so much, Martin. Thank you. Thank you. Have a wonderful evening and bless you and all things that you're all this that you do Often to share with was was so many because people need people need uplifting right now particularly right now I mean we're looking at the number of young people that are committed suicide

The pandemic has caused some great strife But we are strong and resilient, and we will overcome this too. I'm gonna do my little part, I'm gonna try all I can. So, hey everybody, you gotta share today's show. Don't play around with this one. Share this with people that you love and that you care about and to spread the word.

So, thank you again. Max out everybody, God bless you. This is the end of my show.