Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s family says we’ve made progress, but there are more ‘rivers to cross’

ATLANTA — Coming off the heels of a historic first in the presidential election and the senate election here in Georgia, Channel 2 Action News spoke to Martin Luther King’s family about where we stand as a country.

The civil rights hero’s family said they hope today will serve as a way to celebrate the impact of the civil rights movement and use the message to call for peace.

“We’re at a really interesting time. On one hand we’ve got Kamala Harris, the first Black, first Indian American, first woman vice president, and at the same time we’ve got the Capitol under siege. How are we doing in America?” said Martin Luther King III.

[RELATED: Celebrate MLK Day with these metro Atlanta events]

The son of Dr. Martin Luther King talked about where we are as a country and if he feels his father would be proud as we celebrate his life and legacy today.

“Everything changes and nothing changes. It does feel that way, that we still have rivers to cross,” King said. “When you talk about how we’re doing in Georgia, we should feel very good about what we’ve done but that is going to set the tone for our nation.”

King said we took a big hit in 2020.

“We lost some incredible giants of the civil rights movement last year. I’m talking about CT Vivian and John Lewis,” King said.

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But he said he’s hopeful and optimistic about future leaders taking charge.

“These young people are really different because of technology, because of all the different modalities. They are able to decide that they want to do something, to make our community better,” King said. “There are young leaders who are coming about every day. We may not know their names right this moment, but I am very convinced that leadership is on the horizon.”

This week is the 57th anniversary of MLK's "I have a dream speech".

Cox Media Group