January 18th, 2010

Dear Friends,

I owe a great debt of gratitude to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I would not be running for public office, bolstered by the belief that one person truly can make a difference in the world, were it not for the vision that Dr. King fought for so valiantly.  He taught us that change does not come from somewhere external to ourselves, but rather real change grows out of the collective yearning of people to affect the world around them in a positive way.

As a preacher and a man of the cloth, Reverend King was skilled in the art of making complex or difficult matters understandable to his audience.  As a community organizer, Dr. King was a man of principle, someone with great integrity and the incredible fortitude to live those principles every single day.

He was many things, but above all, Martin Luther King, Jr. was man who was not satisfied with the status quo.

I can honestly say that were it not for the work of Dr. King, I would not be here today.  His commitment to the cause of civil rights and equality for all inspired me to work on Harold Washington’s campaign for mayor, for Carol Moseley Braun’s bid for United States Senate, and for Barack Obama when he ran for Senate and for President.

But just as I feel personally obligated to honor the man and his memory, so too do we all owe a debt to the life, the work, and the legacy of this modern-day hero.

I know all too well how busy we all are these days.  The economy is still on shaky ground, and Americans are working harder and harder for less and less.  I, like many others, am working hard to engage in conversations with thousands of voters, knowing that we are only two short weeks away from electing new officials throughout the state.

So yes – I, like you, feel as if there are fewer hours in the day than there used to be.

However I would ask that you take some time today to reflect on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to take some of that reflection with you in your daily lives in all the other days of the year.  None among us is perfect.  But I know that if each of us did our best to honor Dr. King’s life and to keep the ideals he fought for alive in the future, we might know some measure of the peace that he sought so urgently.

Thank you.

David Schroeder
Democratic Candidate for State Representative