Judge people "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said those words in 1963 less than five years before a gunman took his life. Seeing his speech was an inspirational conclusion to my 1996 visit to the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham, Alabama. They were words to all of us, and they apply as much now as they did then. Dr. King's words and nonviolent protests helped usher in a tidal wave of social change, yet he was a moderate voice in a time full of radicalization from both the right and left. Following the recent tragedy in Tucson, we heard so many stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and President Obama's speech stressing how the forces that unite us are far greater than those that divide us. For a few days, the latest round of bitter political rhetoric on the air and online has been shunned by the overwhelming majority of Americans. Few doubt that the angry voices will be back, but every American should celebrate the voices of reason, inclusion and compassion that actually move us forward. This is more than an African-American holiday. This should be for all Americans.
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