Forty years ago today, on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King, Jr. was brutally murdered. He had traveled there to support local striking sanitation workers, despite decreasing political support for his campaigns against poverty and the war in Vietnam and numerous threats to his life. In the four decades since, people of every opinion and position have claimed to have his voice on their side--that if Dr. King were alive today, he would most certainly say this or that. For myself, I would rather have Dr. King speak in his own words. Because although his life was extinguished forty years ago today, the light that he shined in the darkest corners of our world was not.

Here is the text [1]of the final speech Dr. King gave before his assassination. I know that it may be tempting to think back on this dark day forty years ago, and to feel sadness, frustration or even pessimism about how much work is left to accomplish Dr. King's Dream. But as I re-read this speech this morning, I was filled with a renewed sense of encouragement that I hope you will share, because I think Dr. King's words continue to ring as true in our time as they did in his: And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.