55 years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech, his son, Martin Luther King III, asked the nation to remember its message in its treatment of migrants.
"The cause of human rights for refugees and immigrants is very much in keeping with the dream my father, Martin Luther King Jr., shared with America and the world 55 years ago today at the great March on Washington," King III said Tuesday.
King III was joined by his wife, Arndrea Waters King, and their ten-year-old daughter, Yolanda Renee, to deliver his own speech at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego County.
To chants of "Si Se Puede," or yes we can, the civil rights leader joined hands with his family, children and activists as they walked to a small bi-national park that, At times, was opened to allow families separated by the border to reunite for three minutes. The practice has since been halted.
Without mentioning the Trump administration by name, King III criticized the practices that lead to thousands of migrant children being separated from their parents.
"It is said that a nation is judged by how it treats its most precious resource. I believe our most precious resources are our children," King III said to cheers from the small group of invited guests and media.
"We cannot rest until all the children are reunited with their loved ones and beyond that, we must work together to make sure all refugees are treated with dignity and respect in the future."
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MLK Jr. delivered his famous speech to a crowd of thousands from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 23, 1963.
The event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation. It drew nearly a quarter of a million people and was the largest gathering for civil rights of its time.
"As we mark its 55th anniversary, we come together in the spirit of the dream to call on the nation to rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed that 'all people are created equal’ and thus all have a certain unalienable right," King III said, quoting his father's words.
"My father made clear that this didn’t just include ourselves but also our neighbors."
King III's visit to San Diego was organized by State Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (Dist. 39), Alliance San Diego and the Southern Border Communities Coalition.
"Mr. King's historic border visit is a reminder of his father's call to action to the human family, to not be satisfied 'until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream,'" said Vicki B. Gaubeca, Director of Southern Border Communities Coalition.
Watch the full event through Alliance San Diego's facebook page below.
