Martin Luther King's teachings remembered 50 years after his assassination

BOSTON — Next week marks 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, yet his legacy is still alive and celebrated across the world.

The lessons taught from Dr. King back then are still being taught today.

"This could not be a more relevant or more urgent moment," said MLK scholar Dr. Reverend Cornell Brooks.

From the student-lead March For Our Lives that rallied thousands in cities across the country to the hundreds in California protesting the death of unarmed father Stephen Clark, gunned down by Sacramento Police, Dr. King's teachings are everywhere.

"Where you have the nations, America's foremost apostle of non-violence, being himself a victim of gun violence and our commemorating the anniversary of his death in the midst of a major gun violence debate," said Dr. Brooks.

Former NAACP CEO and MLK scholar Dr. Reverend Cornell Brooks draws an interesting parallel between Dr. King and the protesting youth of 2018.

Dr. Brooks highlights how the weight of non-violent protests, one of the pillars of King's political philosophies, is still relevant and effecting change today.

Dr. King, who attended Morehouse College at the young age of 15, ventured to Boston and earned his doctorate in Theology at Boston University in 1955.

"The kid who had middle to average grades, a middle to average GRE score, graduated near top of his class with all A's with one notable exception - a C in public speaking," said Dr. Brooks.

Mykell McMillen organized hundreds to drive and fly from Boston to the March For Our Lives in Washington D.C.

"The activists who put their lives on the line to move the needle, they did what they fought for me," said McMillen. "I really don't believe in fair, fair is a false word that puts limitations on our minds and once we break through that barrier, we can overcome a lot of things, and that's what a lot of activists before my time have done."

Dr. Brooks said we insult the legacy of Dr. King if all we do is invoke his name, commemorate his death and fail to emulate his life.

Mykell said he, along with many other young activists, work hard everyday to try and teach the people they organize.

"We have a generation that knows the words of the 'I have a dream' speech not from having stood on the mall but having seen it on Youtube," said Dr. Brooks. "They're learning, they're experimenting with non-violence, they are in fact a generation X, a Millennial generation of practitioners of democracy."

Cox Media Group