Martin Luther King III to give first Hume Foundation Lecture tonight

Martin Luther King III pictured at the Bright Brand New Day event in Derry in 2013 with the late John Hume and Martin McGuinness

Martin Luther King III is a US human rights advocate and son of assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

During the first Hume Foundation lecture, Martin Luther King III will be discussing the developing political situation in the United States and civil rights issues around the world.

Dr Sean Farren, Chair of the Hume Foundation, said: “It is very fitting that the Foundation’s inaugural event links John and Pat with Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in the USA. John frequently acknowledged the inspiration that movement provided to the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. Martin Luther King’s leadership in the non-violent approach to political and social change will continue to inspire future generations.”

Martin Luther King III said it was an honour to give the first lecture for the foundation.

“It is an honour for me to give the inaugural lecture for the John and Pat Hume Foundation on Leadership for Peaceful Change. I know, from my visit to Derry in 2013, how much my father, Martin Luther King Jr., was an inspiration to John and Pat from the early days of civil rights in Northern Ireland and to achieving lasting peace in Ireland.

“Like my father, John Hume believed in inclusivity, not exclusivity and true unity was unity of the heart, not unity of the soil.”

He added: “My mother Coretta Scott King spoke for all of us in 1999 when presenting the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize to John Hume. “Like Dr. King, John has demonstrated the power of one person that provided a spark of leadership that provided a way out of no way.”’

Peter Weil from Politics in Action said he was captivated by John Hume’s message as a school student.

He said that in October 1968 he was a pupil at the Methodist College Belfast and Chair of our school current affairs society.

“Our committee met after the weekend of 5th October and we knew then that our agenda for the new school year was no longer relevant. We were determined to focus on civil rights instead.

“We invited John Hume to address us and he accepted immediately. Despite demonstrations outside the school, it was a magical moment which I’ve never forgotten. The John Hume message captivated us all.”

You can watch the lecture online at 7pm on Thursday, November 19 via: https://www.facebook.com/events/1298892387124797/