Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King And Coretta Scott King

Today is a day of reflection on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the King family, and to consider the state of racial justice in America. As we grapple with the reality that prejudice, structural racism, and implicit bias still exist in our society today, we must remember that it was Dr. King who made clear that each one of us has the power to be a compelling agent for change.

In my medical school training and years as a surgeon, I must admit I didn’t think much about race. I treated every patient with the same attention and care. Indeed, I had taken a solemn oath of professional ethics—the Hippocratic Oath. Skin color didn’t matter when you transplanted a heart—it beat exactly the same no matter the patient’s race or ethnicity.

But when I got to the United States Senate, I quickly recognized how our nation’s complicated history of social injustice had left its mark on many federal laws and institutions and impacted the well-being of Blacks in my home state of Tennessee and in our nation. This history had shaped federal policies and programs, and it was our duty as Members of Congress to continually work to address implicit bias and make right our prejudices.

I sought to learn from those who had lived it. In 2004 I joined social justice icon Congressman John Lewis, who had marched with Dr. King, for four days on his annual civil rights pilgrimage to Alabama and Tennessee.

Lawmakers place a wreath on the Civil Rights Memorial outside the Southern Poverty Law Center in … [+] Montgomery, Ala., Friday, Feb. 13, 2004. The group is touring civil rights sites in Alabama on Friday and Saturday. At front from left: Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J. At rear is Sen. George Allen, R-Va., left, and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

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As I recounted on the floor of the Senate, “It is an extraordinary journey that changes all who partake. It connects us to our history, our geography, our shame and redemption, and to the astonishing bravery and commitment of the civil rights leaders who fought for America’s honor: Martin Luther King, Jr., his wife Coretta Scott, Rosa Parks, the Greensboro Four…” and of course, the late John Lewis. “Their willingness to face violence and intimidation, injustice, and oppression, with steadfast love and bravery transformed America. Indeed, it led to a great awakening that continues to reverberate around the world.”

Later that year, we awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to Reverend Doctor King posthumously and his widow Coretta Scott King in recognition of their contributions to the nation on behalf of the civil rights movement.

And in 2006, working with Congressman Lewis, we passed the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Right Reauthorization Act of 2006. It was a moment Dr. King would have been proud of—to see his friend, the fearless social justice warrior John Lewis who decades ago fought to create this law, now writing the law.

UNITED STATES – MAY 02: Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., looks on with other members as Senate Majority … [+] Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., speaks in front of the U.S. Capitol in a show of unity in support of the bipartisan, bicameral extension of expiring provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Lewis was a key leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, and endured more than 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries; he remained a devoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. (Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)

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That is a testament to the greatness of America. I reflected then, on the Senate floor, that:

“The Voting Rights Act [of 1965] ensured that no American citizen and no election law of any State could deny access to the ballot box because of race, ethnicity, or language minority status. It took much courage and sacrifice to make that original Voting Rights Act into law, the courage and sacrifice of leaders such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Congressman John Lewis, to name a few. They paved the way to end discrimination and open the voting booths for millions of African Americans and other minorities who were previously denied the right to vote. In the 41 years—yes, it has been 41 years—since then, we have made tremendous progress. Thousands upon thousands of minorities have registered to vote. Minorities have been elected to hold office at the local level, at the State level, and the Federal level in increasing numbers. In short, the Voting Rights Act has worked. It has achieved its intended purpose. We need to build upon that progress by extending expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act today. We owe it to the memories of those who fought before us… and we owe it to our future—a future where equality is a reality, a reality in our hearts and in our minds, not just the law—to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.”

We named that law in part for Coretta Scott King, who tirelessly carried on her husband’s vision and legacy and was a Civil Rights hero in her own right. While I never met Dr. King (I was just a boy when he was assassinated), I had the privilege to spend time with Mrs. King, including joining her for a church service at Ebenezer Baptist Church Heritage in Atlanta where her family had been historically attending services. The morning after she passed in January 2006, I rose on the Senate floor to recognize the powerful change she and her family had ignited in our nation:

“As a Southerner who hails from a state that once imposed the terrible evils of Jim Crow, I am deeply grateful for the work of the Civil Rights Movement. … Without the achievements of the civil rights movement, Tennessee, and indeed the entire American South, would have remained mired in cultural and political and economic patterns of the distant past. It took leadership. It took boldness. It took vision. As we move forward with our work today and in the whole of this Congress, let us remember that heroic, that bold, yet humble, work of Coretta Scott King. Let us prove ourselves worthy of the legacy of the civil rights movement the King family have bequeathed to our Nation.”

Our nation would greatly benefit today from the powerful, peaceful, moral guidance of Dr. and Mrs. King, as we chart a path forward in a divided America. I believe they would counsel us to treat each other with respect, love, and dignity, and consider where we are alike instead of focusing on our differences. Because as Dr. King smartly explained, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King leave behind a tremendous legacy and a great challenge to all of us; that is, to lead our lives with courage and with grace and with the boldness and dignity to realize the dream to which she and her husband devoted their lives; that one day, one day soon, in their words, “this Nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed”—”that all men are,” indeed “created equal.”