During Yale's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration event this week, U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) Edna W. Cummings, a military veteran and civil rights advocate, called to mind one of the enduring aims of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution: "to form a more perfect union."
Since the nation's founding, Cumming said, this work has been iterative, with each generation bearing a responsibility to continue it.
"Back when the Constitution was written, it was evident that things would change over and over again," Cummings said during the event, held at Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall on Jan. 29, which was livestreamed. "Every day we want to get better and better, where we strive to repair inequities and build and sustain those connections to shape our generation's legacy and strengthen our communities."
The same kind of commitment defines the legacy of Dr. King, the iconic civil rights leader whom Cummings described as a "warrior" in the "ongoing battle for respect and dignity for marginalized citizens."
