Mark Morial

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, change has come to America.

And there's a great swell of cheers to welcome Martin Luther King.

This man could not have stopped Dr. King, had a logistical operation, had operative alternative passports, and got out of the country with money alone.

But I am somebody.

Our time has come.

We must leave racial battleground and come to economic common ground and moral higher ground.

America, our time has come.

Reverend Jackson was a giant among men.

He was tall and powerful in stature, powerful in presence.

He paved the way for Bill Clinton.

He paved the way for Barack Obama.

He inspired me to run for public office, to the Louisiana legislature, and then later to become mayor of New Orleans.

Because what he showed is that the philosophy of inclusion, the philosophy of equal justice,

The philosophy of coalition building could and needed to be central to American politics in the 90s and beyond.

So its impact is so, so profound.

Five, four, three, two, one.

His most important contribution was to bring, I think, the ethos of civil rights into mainstream American politics.