Attorney General Eric Holder spoke Thursday at a gala luncheon honoring pioneers of the civil rights movement as part of a series of events leading up to the dedication of the newly opened Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall this Sunday.
“This moment has been a long time coming. It has been too long,” Holder said. “Although more than four decades have passed since his tragic death, it is clear that Dr. King’s spirit lives on.”
Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at a luncheon honoring civil rights pioneers.
The $85-a-plate event honored those who have participated and lived through the movement that King embodied.
And while Holder paid homage to the powerful impact the civil rights movement had on social opportunities for African Americans – with the audience breaking into applause as he counted himself and President Barack Obama as beneficiaries – he also highlighted the challenges still facing racial and economic minorities in the U.S.
“I say this fully aware of the fact that a direct beneficiary of the civil rights movement is now in the White House and that another direct beneficiary has the honor of leading our nation’s Department of Justice,” he said. “We must seize this unique and important opportunity to rededicate ourselves to Dr. King’s vision of racial and social equality, to revitalize his efforts to expand economic opportunity and to reaffirm the values that were at the heart of his sermons, the root of his actions, the core of his character and the center of his life.”
Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, praised Holder during his introduction of the event’s speakers and suggested that the Attorney General has not received enough credit for his work in advancing King’s legacy.
“Under his leadership the idea of enforcing the laws that Dr. King and others got on the books … has reemerged as the policy of the Department of Justice, and Eric Holder has not gotten enough credit for his role,” Morial said.
Holder added that he was proud that King’s memorial will join the “five towering giants of our history” honored on he National Mall.
“On our National Mall, Dr. King – not a President, and yet far more than an ordinary man – will be honored among men who are, in a historical sense, his peers,” he said. “And his legacy will, if we work to make it so, inspire generations to come.”
