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King looks to change lives in Lanka
EXCLUSIVE
By Dianne Silva
Martin Luther King, Jr. "It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence...it's nonviolence or nonexistence." For years the legendary civil rights activist fought for equality for the people of color in the United States, setting a precedent for and establishing a catchphrase to eliminate racial and social inequality around the world.
His son Martin Luther King III carries on his father’s legacy through his organization “Realizing the Dream”. While in Sri Lanka to champion freedom, 
justice, and equality, he spoke to Daily Mirror Online today on how Sri Lanka can reconcile its people by creating social equality and how the youth of the country can take a more active role in effecting their world for the better.
It is the youth that will be the vehicle of change in making the dream a reality and taking non-violence to the masses. “I would be spending my life on creating the environment for that dream to become a reality. Our mission is to foster peace though non-violence, youth leadership development, and to focus on economic and community development. Youth leadership is where the greatest contribution is needed and will be made. Because no matter what movements people are involved in it is the young people that will be the troops that will bring about the greatest amount of change,” he said.
The “Realizing the Dream” organization hopes to bring their massage of tolerance and non-violence to Sri Lankan youth through education and the building of relationships. They hope to be back in March to conduct programmes in the North. “We hope to train and teach some of the persons who have been engaged in war over the last years, over 8000 young people. If they would like to be exposed to this philosophy then we would like to build partnerships and relationships. We want young people to say that this is a philosophy of life that we want to be exposed to and our team is capable of teaching it and training it. Some of it will be through the internet, through the social networks, which are growing around the world, that’s going to be the greatest tool to get a message across to the people of the world. If we are able to do that then we can expose young people to this philosophy that can change their lives. And of course they have to believe that it can change their lives also,” King said.
King admits that although certain aspects of his fathers ‘dream’ were achieved there is yet much to be done. “My fathers dream was justice and equality for all human kind has not yet been achieved. My father talked about what he called the triple evils of racism, poverty and militarism and how we must somehow eradicate those evils. The appointment of President Obama is one aspect but it is nowhere near the fulfillment of my fathers dream. Because poverty is still rampant and as it relates to militarism an exorbitant amount is being spent on defense. Someday we have to find a way to stop spending all that money on defense and start spending it on social up-lift and if we get closer to these things then we will be closer to the fulfillment of the dream,” King said.
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