From the Washington Post

Honoring Martin Luther King Jr., the Man and the Kid

Monday, January 19, 2009; Page C12

Today our nation honors the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose life helped pave the way for tomorrow’s inauguration of the first black U.S president.

You may know a lot about King already:

· About his nonviolent campaign for equal rights for blacks.

· About his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 in which he said: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

· And about how he was shot to death in 1968.

His dream was an inspiration to Barack Obama, who was 6 years old when King was assassinated.

In a speech given two years ago at the church in Atlanta, Georgia, where King was a preacher, Obama talked about the way King “led this country through the wilderness.”

Obama said: “He did it with words — words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves but the children of slave owners. Words that inspired not just black but also white, not just the Christian but the Jew, not just the Southerner but also the Northerner. He led with words, but he also led with deeds.”