The following recorded remarks by Senator Andy Kim were shared at the Annual MLK Day Celebration hosted by the South Orange/Maplewood Coalition on Race on January 20, 2025:
Hi, everyone. I’m Senator Andy Kim, and I just want to say thank you for giving me a chance to say a few words to you virtually, as we as a country gather together to celebrate Martin Luther King and his legacy, to be able to take up service to our nation as a tribute to such a powerful and great man who did so much for our nation, but with still more work to be done.
I think about the words of Martin Luther King a lot, certainly a lot that all of us have learned and studied over the years, but I just want to share one in particular that really stood out to me. It’s been somewhat of a mantra, somewhat of a guiding light for the work that I’ve been doing in Congress.
We all know the “I have a dream” speech that he gave.
Many of us know especially the ending by heart. But there’s a line in there that’s lesser known that I never really paid any attention to until I started getting involved in politics. And the line says, “Let us not try to quench our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
And that was just such a powerful line, especially in the context of this speech. I mean, this speech is going on about just this beautiful, vivid picture of a future that he wants for his kids, for his kids’ generation, where he wants to see America going, to what we aspire towards. But in that line I just quoted, he also reminds us that it’s not just about where we’re going, but it’s also about how we treat people along the way, that we have to be mindful of how we approach it.
That we cannot have that bitterness and hatred. We cannot achieve what we want out of fear and hatred, that we have to be mindful about each other, even the people that we disagree with. And I know that’s not always easy, and trust me, with the work that I do down at the United States Capitol and politics it’s not always easy, but it’s something that we should strive for — to be able to have these opportunities to be able to engage with one another. That’s something that I’ve tried to do. I’ve often said, especially when it comes to politics, we can’t always be having comfortable conversations. You have to have uncomfortable conversations. You have to go out to different communities where you may not know it as well, be able to try to make sure that you can bridge and show that type of respect to one another, that type of capacity.
We are undoubtedly going through difficult times. These are challenging times. I often try to think through, well, what’s going to get us out of this? One of the greatest honors of my life is I got to call a great man, John Lewis, a colleague of mine, someone who had the chance to be able to march with Dr. King and be part of a movement that helped reshape the course of our country. And I remember asking Mr. Lewis, I asked him, what does this moment in America look like to you? Before he passed, I asked him, what does it look like to you? And it was interesting to hear him. He, he looked at me, he said that, you know, this is a historic moment in this country.
And that’s tough to hear. I’ll be honest with you. I don’t actually want to live through history.
I’d much rather have quieter times where I can, you know, be see my two little boys more than I do now. But these are the times that we’re in. John Lewis said something that I think really embodies him and Martin Luther King and so many other great leaders, he said that these times of history are shaped by those who stand up, those who step up. And I think that that’s very much what this holiday is trying to remind us, that there’s nothing inevitable about America. There’s nothing that we are destined for that will just occur on its own. If we have concerns about what’s happening, then the question is, what are we gonna do about it? What role are we going to play? I’ve been saying this line a lot lately. This is something that I’ve said, which is, I believe that the opposite of democracy is apathy. If we give up, if we feel like things are hopeless, than we’re never gonna be able to change things. So let us make sure that we’re continuing that engagement, continuing to push forward, honor Dr. King and this country every single day. So I wish you all the best. Thanks for gathering all, and I hope to be able to see you all down the road. Take care.
