20th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration - Coretta Scott King Keynote Address [excerpts] (1994)

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

KING: The best way in [? commemorating ?] Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is to recommit ourselves to his unfinished work for social and economic justice. Most people are aware that the Civil Rights Movement focused on the elimination of racial segregation, but we were also concerned about economic empowerment of the disadvantaged and impoverished people in our communities. My husband once said that the inseparable twin of racial injustice is economic injustice. And even today, more than 25 years after Martin was assassinated in Memphis, economic empowerment is still the central issue we face.

With enough creativity and determination, we will be able to create a society where every child can have a decent education and a chance for a better life, and where every parent can have a stable job that will enable them to support their families. Let us embrace this common vision and mobilize all of our resources to bring it into being. During the Civil Rights Movement, it was college students like you, students of all races and religions, who provided crucial leadership for social change. Young people like you are always the vanguard of any social movement, and now we need you to once again lead us to a higher and more noble destiny.