ason why the less than 1 percent of the U.S. population serving in the military, thus the militarys view was not the majority in the U.S.
I know that most of us in this room were either very young or not alive when Dr. King Jr. was shot by a snipers bullet at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, or when the civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., happened in March 1964, or when King became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10 that same year at the age of 35, or when Time Magazine listed him as the Man of the year for 1963, or when he gave his famous speech in Washington D.C., on August 28, 1963.
Lets pause for a moment and take a look at this picture not only are black minorities here but white people as well as numerous other races.
Remember civil rights was not won by only one race but white and black working together, along with other minority races to achieve the endstate we see today.
How many of us were alive when Dr. King orchestrated the Montgomery City bus boycott (sparked by a then-42-year old Mrs. Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955) that lasted 381 days all because Ms. Parks refused to give up her seat (as required by law for all black people) so that a white man paying the same bus fare could take it from her?
Now, let me pause a moment for historical clarification Ms. Rosa Parks was actually sitting where she was supposed to on the bus, just behind the 10th row for seating which was the designated area for all minorities riding the bus. The issue surfaced when the bus began to fill up with white majority passengers so the common practice was after the 10th row was filled then the minorities were supposed to give up their allocation of seats and either move further back or even stand to accommodate them.
Dr. King Jr. used the ideas of civil disobedience and peaceful protests based on the writings of Henry David Thoreau and the actions of Mohandas Gandhi to lead the fight against segregation and discrimination. The demonstrations and activism significantly assisted the US Government to eventually pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
All this work Dr. King and other civil rights activists did was done so that years later a young graduate of Tuskegee University can be commissioned in the United States Army by his parents, be promoted to captain by his loving wife, promoted to major and subsequently achieve the rank of lieutenant colonel and command a battalion.
While at the same time, he does not have to see his family experience or see the effects of that severe level of discrimination that existed before the civil rights laws were passed.
I am thankful for the work of Dr. King, I am thankful for Dr. Kings dream, and I am thankful for those leaders in our country who continue to support that dream so we can indeed live equally in the greatest country in the world. May God bless our Army and may God bless America, the land I truly love. Thank you all for coming.