Civil Rights Pioneer “Dignified the Service” of All
WASHINGTON — In commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday Monday, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson recommitted the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to the civil rights pioneer’s vision of equality and justice.
In a speech given to VA employees, Nicholson said, “Dr. King’s selflessness as a soldier for equality mirrors the courage and bravery of black Americans who have answered liberty’s call for heroes, even when the society around them denied them their basic rights.”
African Americans make up about a quarter of VA’s 230,000 employees. More than 2.6 million black Americans are veterans.
“I believe that Dr. King would approve of VA’s ministry to America’s defenders,” Nicholson added. “He would know that today, in affirmation of his challenge — to work passionately and unrelentingly to make the American dream a reality — VA employees of every race and creed are dignifying the service of those Americans who stepped forward to answer freedom’s call.”
VA’s programs for African Americans and other minority members include special outreach programs overseen by the Department’s Center for Minority Veterans, an Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans that advises the secretary on issues affecting these veterans, and efforts by the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization to help businesses owned by minority veterans learn how to obtain government contracts.
“Dr. King closed his famous letter from the Birmingham jail with this hope that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty,” Nicholson concluded. “Such radiant stars shine every day across VA’s vast constellation.”
Secretary Nicholson hosted an observance ceremony for Dr. King at VA’s headquarters yesterday in Washington, D.C., where Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, was a featured guest.
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