Are we really listening to what MLK had to say?

Opinion by Peniel Joseph

Updated 7:43 PM ET, Sat January 18, 2020

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The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was best known for his role in the civil rights movement and nonviolent protests. His life's work has been honored with a national holiday, schools and public buildings named after him, and a memorial on the National Mall in Washington. Take a look back at the late civil rights leader's defining years. Here, King speaks in Washington in 1968, the year he was assassinated.
Photos: The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was best known for his role in the civil rights movement and nonviolent protests. His life's work has been honored with a national holiday, schools and public buildings named after him, and a memorial on the National Mall in Washington. Take a look back at the late civil rights leader's defining years. Here, King speaks in Washington in 1968, the year he was assassinated.
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King outlines boycott strategies to his advisers and organizers on January 27, 1956. Seated are the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, left, and Rosa Parks, center, who was the catalyst for the protest of bus riders.
Photos: The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
King outlines boycott strategies to his advisers and organizers on January 27, 1956. Seated are the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, left, and Rosa Parks, center, who was the catalyst for the protest of bus riders.
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King sits for a police mugshot after his arrest for directing a citywide boycott of segregated buses on February 24, 1956.
Photos: The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
King sits for a police mugshot after his arrest for directing a citywide boycott of segregated buses on February 24, 1956.
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King stands in front of a bus at the end of the Montgomery bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 26, 1956.
Photos: The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
King stands in front of a bus at the end of the Montgomery bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 26, 1956.
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King speaks during the Prayer Pilgrimage near the Reflecting Pool in Washington on May 17, 1957.
Photos: The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
King speaks during the Prayer Pilgrimage near the Reflecting Pool in Washington on May 17, 1957.
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Accompanied by his wife, Coretta Scott, King leaves Harlem Hospital after being stabbed near the heart on September 20, 1958. The near-fatal incident occurred when he was autographing copies of his book at a Harlem bookstore.