The eldest surviving child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King prefers to observe the national holiday in honor of his father as opposed to celebrating it. Martin Luther King III said there is simply too much work to be done around what his father called the "triple evils."

"We can't celebrate when the triple evils of poverty, racism and militarism are still very much existing in our society," said King. "The holiday always gives us an opportunity to begin anew."

King, founder and CEO of Realizing the Dream, a group dedicated to pursuing peace, justice, equality and an end to racism and poverty through nonviolence, said he will be at the King Center in Atlanta for this year's holiday, where Princeton professor and scholar Cornel West will deliver the keynote address. Realizing the Dream will also hand out its Champion of Hope Award to a person it feels best exemplifies the principles of Martin Luther King, Jr.

With his 19-month-old daughter playing and laughing in the background, King sat down with Aol Black Voices for a wide-ranging interview. King spoke about everything from what his father would say about President Barack Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan to his parent's legacy and even the battle among the surviving King children over their parents' estates. Despite recent legal troubles, King said all is well among the three surviving children of one of the world's greatest human rights advocates.

Black Voices: How do you feel about President Obama helping to publicize the MLK Day Holiday as a national day of service?

Martin L. King III: It's great that the president encourages service, but that's just one aspect of what Martin Luther King Jr. was about. We need to be engaged in community service on days other than the King holiday. We need people engaged throughout the year by the millions. The only way we are going to make America different is to have seniors mentoring our young people, people fighting HIV/AIDS.

BV: President Obama invoked the words of your father often during his inauguration. What would your parents say about the election of this country's first black president? Is President Obama's election the fulfillment of "The Dream" or does this country have more work to do?

MLKIII: We've made great strides in relationship to race and great strides in electing President Obama. But just a few months later we saw [Harvard University] professor [Henry Louis] Gates accosted in his own home, which lets us known that racism is very much alive and real. We are much better as a nation, but the issue of race is not resolved.
In fact, on the issues of poverty and militarism we have gone backward. There are 40 million people living in poverty and 46 million with no health care. We are spending billions of dollars around this military industrial complex. Until we create a different economy not based around the military, we will not resolve basic bread-and-butter issues. We celebrated in 1983 when Ronald Reagan signed the bill marking the holiday. It was not observed until 1986, so we celebrated when the holiday actually took place. We celebrated in 2009 with the inauguration of President Obama. But here we are in 2010 observing the King holiday, and we have not addressed fully the three evils. We have not reduced poverty and shifted the emphasis away from militarism. It's not just bringing our troops home from Iraq, it's a matter of living in a society where we lay down swords and shields and study war no more.

BV: The president has received a lot of criticism for not strongly addressing racial issues and issues affecting African Americans in this country. Is the criticism warranted?

MLKIII: The president can use the bully pulpit to talk about race. The conversation about Harry Reid's comment is actually a healthy one. However, the president can't allow the media to relegate him to the issue of race. He must use the bully pulpit wisely, because the mainstream media will relegate him to just a black president. He is the president of the United States, and he represents all people. There is an opportunity for him to set a tone around race at this point, but we also must realize that his hands are full.

BV: Civil rights was the biggest battle of your father's day. What is the biggest human rights struggle in this country today?

MLKIII: My father and his team went from civil rights to human rights. One of biggest issues facing the president and Congress is how do we create opportunities relating to jobs. A decent education is a human right. We should have decent health care. We should have justice. There are a range of issues to be addressed by the president and Congress that could fall under human rights. If the president and Congress can get the economy working again and create jobs and opportunities, that would go a long way for the 3 to 4 million unemployed people who have just stopped looking for jobs and who have given up hope. We need to be creative and look at things, like green jobs. We also have to address the fact that we have 20 years of youngsters who are not qualified to do the high-tech jobs that exist. We have to make sure they are engaged.
BV: Do you think your father would have been critical of President Obama for some of his decisions, such as sending 30,000 troops to Afghanistan?

MLKIII: My father would challenge the nation to be better. When my father criticized the Vietnam War, when he challenged the nation about the war, President Lyndon Johnson took it as personal criticism. It wasn't. My father was criticizing war. So, I think he certainly would criticize our policies. He would argue that we could stop terrorism when we treat people with dignity and respect. The United states is a nation of 300 million people, yet we use more resources than India, a country of more than a billion people. The world has legitimate issues with us. That doesn't mean they should take their frustrations out on us by doing us harm, but we have to understand their concerns and find a better way to distribute resources and be of assistance to the world.

The wonderful part about this country is our generosity. Take this great tragedy in Haiti. The United States will roll up its sleeves and respond. We are the first responders. We will send resources. Whenever there is a crisis, we will respond because that's who Americans are.

So, my father and mother would be constructively critical of President Obama. He did not create the problems we have, but he has to find ways to work with the people to solve them.

BV: How would the world be different now if your father had lived longer than he did?

MLKIII: Had he lived, maybe poverty, racism and militarism would have been reduced more than they are now. Had he lived, maybe our society would have focused on poverty 25 to 30 years ago, and there would be a much smaller percentage of people living in poverty. Maybe we would not have ramped up militarism to the point where we spend billions of dollars per month on war. I think we'd be much further ahead on racial issues. Had he lived, he would be concerned about the direction we find our nation in. He would be concerned that we are addressing the same problems with the same old solutions. We still believe we can address terrorism with militarism. We had a chance to change course in 2001. Instead of shifting our paradigm, we embraced the idea that we have the bigger gun, the bigger bomb. As my father said, darkness cannot put out darkness, only light can. Violence cannot stop violence.


BV: How difficult has it been as a family to deal with the death of your mother and sister?

MLKIII: Well, my mother's passing was not as much of a shock. She had a stroke and we knew she might pass. My sister Yolanda was in shock. We are still, as a family, always grieving. Every January, my mother was very vibrant and involved with observing the King holiday. Yolanda was also involved. The greatest tribute to both of them is that we, as offspring and heirs to Martin Luther King Jr.'s and Coretta Scott King's legacy, try to build on it.

BV: The surviving King children were recently involved in a very public dispute over your parent's estates. There were accusations of misappropriation of monies and lawsuits. You and Dexter were not speaking. Those issues were resolved in court in October. What is the relationship like among you, Bernice and Dexter now?

MLKIII: We went through a legal battle, but that battle is resolved and we are working together to put those issues behind us. For the forseeable future, the business aspect of our parents' estate, King Inc., will be run by a custodian. Bernice, Dexter and I are engaged in conversation, but this decision takes the family out of being involved in the day-to-day operation. Maybe a year or two from now we will be involved in a different way. This gives us a chance to engage in dialogue about how we want things to happen in the future. For example, at some one point, there will be a definitive film on my father, but it was difficult.

Many people did not understand the issue. At the end of day, it will be positive. It was tough to go through court. Fortunately, there was no trial. That would have been awful. I was in Los Angeles Sunday and had dinner with Dexter. We talked yesterday. He has not had a chance to meet my daughter, but he will be meeting her soon. They've heard each other's voice on the phone. It is always good to have a unified front. People respect a unified front. We have to learn to disagree without being disagreeable, as my father said.

BV: Has it been hard to try and continue your father's tremendous legacy? Who do you expect will carry on your parents' legacy when the King children are no longer here?

MLKIII: I've been blessed with a daughter, and maybe Dexter will have children one day. But we hope the next generation will carry on the phenomenal legacy, because it means so much to the world. Through Realizing the Dream, we are addressing poverty domestically and in places such as India, Kenya, Bosnia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

We are developing what we call an international youth corps that will be trained in nonviolence. They will be working in Israel with the Palestinians and Israelis and with Indians and Pakistanis. Although these places have been engaged in fighting, we want young people to embrace nonviolence and the philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Does that mean the crisis in the Middle East will be resolved next week? No. But the more youngsters we expose, the more likely these crises will be resolved using nonviolent means.