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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: You have heard all that we have been saying about your father’s assassination and what might have happened had that not happened and not taken place. Do you feel that this is a moment, as Eleanor Holmes Norton said, that, in fact, the promise of civil rights and equality and justice can actually start to be heard in this moment because of what happened to George Floyd and the reaction to it?
MARTIN LUTHER KING III, PRESIDENT & CEO, REALIZING THE DREAM: Well, what I would say, of course, is, if we do not hear and heed to a call now, then our nation is on the brink of destruction. My father used to say, we must learn nonviolence, or we will face nonexistence. And what that means is, we have to treat our fellow human beings with dignity and respect. Fifty-plus years ago, my father stood with sanitation workers, and they had a sign that said, “I am a man.” Those men were saying, treat us with dignity and respect. Yes, we are sanitation workers, but we need to be paid; 52-plus years later, blacks and whites and children and Latino and Hispanics and everyone is standing up saying, Black Lives Matter. Why should we have to be saying that? We are human beings. And society has not recognized that. I believe, though, that this incident may perhaps be a tipping point and a turning point for our nation to really engage in some serious action institutionally. Dad wanted to see the eradication of poverty, and my mother, I should say, racism, and he said militarism. But it today is violence. We, as a human species, have the capacity to do these things. It takes a few good women and men coming together and creating a strategic plan and effort. In this context, it may be different policies. And so, yes, I believe this might be, as the congresswoman stated, that opportunity. It should have happened already. It is tragic, over and over again, that we have to keep going through this. But enough is enough.
AMANPOUR: Yes.
KING: And it’s not — it is clear that people are not going to take it anymore.
About This Episode EXPAND
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton reflects on protests across the U.S. sparked by the death of George Floyd. Martin Luther King III and Black Lives Matter campaigner DeRay Mckesson discuss how this unrest can lead to systemic change. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo explains why he’s speaking up for people of color. Nikole Hannah-Jones reflects on the history of racism in the U.S.
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