Martin Luther King Jr.: A TIME Forum

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AP

John Lewis
Democratic Congressman from Georgia The very last time I saw Dr. King alive, he was getting ready to bring people to Washington to deal with not just civil rights but the whole question of economic justice. He was going to put on the American agenda the pain and the suffering and the hurting of that segment of America. I truly believe if he had lived and if Robert Kennedy had lived and been elected President, the two of them together would have been an unstoppable coalition that would have made the country a place with a greater sense of community. We wouldn't have so many people still left behind. There wouldn't be so much poverty and hunger. And we probably would have some type of comprehensive health-care campaign for all our citizens. All these years later, I think he would be much more committed to the struggle for peace throughout the world and to using the huge amount of resources that we have to help people build and not tear down, to be reconciled and not divided.