ATLANTA (AP) — The son of Martin Luther King Jr. says the recent shootings in Arizona that killed six and left a congresswoman critically wounded shows the work of his father must continue.
Martin Luther King III spoke Saturday at a dinner where the King Center is honoring the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's work on civil rights. A posthumous award is being 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 make 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
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ATLANTA (AP) — The widow of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy will accept a posthumous award from the King Center recognizing her husband's work for civil rights.
The King Center said in a statement that Victoria Kennedy plans to accept the award Saturday night in Atlanta and speak about her husband's legacy.
Edward Kennedy died of brain cancer in August 2009 after serving nearly a half-century in the U.S. Senate.
Many black leaders credit Kennedy with consistently pushing for equal rights legislation in Congress. One of Kennedy's first major speeches on the Senate floor was in support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
He was a friend of the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Kennedy sponsored legislation making King's birthday a federal holiday.
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Online:
The King Center: http://www.thekingcenter.org
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