King’s nephew: Obama’s election is a big step

ATLANTA (AP) — The inauguration of the nation’s first black president is a huge step toward realizing Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of racial equality, but there is still work to be done, King’s nephew told a large crowd Monday at the church where the civil rights leader once preached.

Isaac Newton Farris, president of The King Center, told the jubilant crowd on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that the election of Barack Obama was built on a foundation laid by King.

“There is definitely a spiritual connection between these two events,” Farris told the mostly black congregation that erupted in applause at any mention of Obama’s name.

Though Obama’s election to the nation’s highest office is a milestone, King’s final achievement will not be complete until disparities in health care, education and economics are eliminated, he said.

“The dream was not about an individual or any race of people attaining power,” Farris said. “It was a human dream.”

The celebration also included a keynote address from Pastor Rick Warren, a Southern Baptist who is scheduled to give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration today.