Rivlin hosts Martin Luther King III in Jerusalem

President Reuven Rivlin hosts Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., at his Jerusalem residence.

During the event, singer Idan Raichel, former MK Penina Tamanu-Shatu and journalist Anat Saragusti are awarded the 2016 Unsung Hero Award from the Drum Major Institute, a civil rights group headed by King, “for their activism on behalf of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel,” the President’s Residence announces in an email.

President Reuven Rivlin (right) greets Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., at his Jerusalem residence, May 8, 2016. (Haim Zach)

“In his last speech, on April 3, 1968, one day before his assassination, your dear father, Martin Luther King Jr., said — and I quote, ‘We as a people will get to the Promised Land together!’ Rivlin says. “He taught us a great and important lesson; the Promised Land is of course an actual place, but at the same time it is also a vision, a dream, and also a responsibility.”

King thanks Rivlin and says, “It seems to me the message of Martin Luther King Jr. still resounds loudly in our nation and throughout the world and perhaps is needed even more so now today than back then. I think the world is crying out for a message of hope and healing. We are honored to be in this nation, and honored to be in this official residence.”