This
week we remember Martin Luther King Jnr on Monday 16 January 2012 and next week the Holocaust on Friday 27 January 2012.
Martin Luther King Day and Holocaust Memorial Day are important opportunities
to stop, reflect and reaffirm our commitment to building a shared society based
upon respect and non violence.
Martin
Luther King has long been my personal hero and once remarked “I have a dream
that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not
be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
This unfortunately still remains a dream in some cases with a Dutch man and his
Nigerian wife and son living in East Belfast again subjected to racist attacks
last weekend.
Nearly
67 years after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau it remains vitally
important to both speak out and act to eliminate intolerance, discrimination
and hatred by building a society across Northern Ireland and beyond based upon
respect for diversity.