King: 'I try not to become frustrated'
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Martin Luther King III
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(CNN) -- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I have a dream" speech, one of the defining addresses of the civil rights movement, to about a quarter-million people 40 years ago next week.
King's son, Martin Luther King III, spoke to CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien on Friday after a ceremony on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial commemorating the 1963 March on Washington.
O'BRIEN: It must be a very difficult time, in some ways. Every anniversary, your father is honored for his powerful words. And, at the same time, it has to be, for you and your family, a reminder of his very violent death.
KING: Well, no, we try not to focus on the negative aspects. Certainly, it is almost impossible not to sort of think about it. But it is wonderful that tributes and honors are paid to him, as the one today, where his spot, the spot where he stood when he delivered the "I have a dream" speech, is now dedicated. And people will come and be able to see this etched in history for generations yet unborn.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about progress. Assess it for me. Do you feel that you're hopeful as far as opportunities for African-Americans go or do you feel frustrated that some of the same issues that your father outlined in that speech on that day are things that you're still dealing with today?
KING: Well, I try not to become frustrated. But, in a real way, it is very challenging, particularly when you look at the fact that, over the last 18 months, almost 3 million people have lost jobs in this country, when you look at the fact that 15 million people are living in poverty, and 3 [million] to 4 million of those are homeless, and a disproportionate number are African-American, 45 million people with no health insurance. Blacks still make 60 cents to the dollar that others make.
So there are a lot of issues that we have to overcome. But if we work very hard, we certainly can overcome them.
O'BRIEN: How about some other statistics? For example, only 47 percent of blacks who are eligible under the age of 44 voted in the last presidential election. A higher [proportion] of whites did, same age. What do you think your father would say to that?
KING: Well, I would hope -- let me just say what he always said, which is, a voteless people is a powerless people. And one of the most important steps that we can take is that short step to the ballot box.
I think we have got to do a better job explaining to people why their vote does count. I think people feel disconnected from some of their elected officials, as well as the system, because sometimes it is very complicated. That's why we're engaged for the next 15 months in a voter-education and voter-registration campaign. Voter education with registration will create voter participation.
We have seen the hip-hop community, with Russell Simmons, registering people. Just the other day in Philadelphia, he registered 10,000 young people. And in every city that they go to, meaning the hip-hop kind of folk, they're registering folk. We're working kind of in a coalition, in a sense, to register more new voters. And I believe that, ultimately, we're going to see more people participate in the process.
O'BRIEN: The story goes, back on that day, nearly 40 years ago, that, as your father was delivering the speech that he had written down, he suddenly sort of veered off the speech and started preaching. And actually, the part where he was preaching was the part where he really connected with the audience and may be the most memorable part of that speech, the "I have the dream" part. Is that accurate to say? Is that right?
KING: Well, it is accurate to some degree. But he had delivered a version of that speech in June, just a couple of months earlier, in Detroit, when he marched down Woodward Avenue with Walter Reuther, a labor leader, and the Rev. C.L. Franklin, Aretha Franklin's father and a prominent pastor, and over 100,000 people. So, to some degree, he had rehearsed that portion of the speech. But he actually refined it for ... August 28.
