Martin Luther King III: My father’s work must continue

[January 17, 2011]  ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) -- The son of Martin Luther King Jr. says the recent shootings in Arizona that killed six and left a congresswoman critically wounded show that the work of his father must continue.

Martin Luther King III spoke Saturday at a dinner where the King Center honored the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's work on civil rights. A posthumous award was presented to the senator's widow, Vicki Kennedy. The senator, who died in 2009 at age 77 following a battle with cancer, helped make King's birthday a national holiday.

King's son said the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords makes his father's message of nonviolence resonate particularly strongly.

Both families have been touched by political violence. President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and King and Sen. Robert Kennedy were slain in 1968.

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Online:

The King Center: http://www.thekingcenter.org/

[Associated Press]

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