Congressman Cohen Commemorates Martin Luther King Day

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) commemorated the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day Jr. National Holiday Monday with a series of King-inspired events. He also released this statement:

"I always recognize the Martin Luther King national holiday with a combination of admiration and solemnity. King was a giant of the 20^th Century, a great non-violent Civil Rights leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, anti-war strategist and human being.

"Sadly, he ended his days on Earth in Memphis as he sought to help striking sanitation workers and was assassinated. We will memorialize his death in Memphis and elsewhere several times this year, especially as we approach the 50^th anniversary of that terrible April 4, 1968 murder.

"Today is a good day to reflect on some lines from King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," or Why We Can't Wait, or his anti-war Riverside Church speech from April 1967 or to look up his lesser-known speeches, like one he gave in Memphis just two weeks before he died in which he observed ‘all labor has dignity.' "

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