Ted Childs | Founder, Ted Childs LLC / VP, IBM Global Workforce Diversity

"On January 14, 2010, I got a phone call . My Grandson, Ted, IV, who is 5 years old wanted to tell me about what he learned in school yesterday. He said, 'Grand-daddy, we learned about Martin Luther King today. He was a leader of Black people. He wanted equality for all people, and he didn’t like fighting."

It is important that we not let this and future generations lose sight of Dr. King's accomplishments and vision - for all people, not just Black people.

I was twenty years old when he gave his speech in Washington, twenty-two when I joined IBM, and thirty years later, age 53 when I became a Vice President. Never on that journey was I not aware of Dr. King’s intensity, vision, and hopes for me and my generation, and our role and responsibility to contribute to the pursuit of his vision---NEVER. President Obama's election is an example of a possible outcome of Dr. King's dream - it does not represent its achievement.

The challenges of education, jobs, housing, health care and the day to day navigation of our justice system should remind us that for many of our people the day after the election represented pride, but not a change in personal circumstance. It justified their dreams, but did not bring additional light to the road they must travel to realize them. It was simply the validation of just how relentless we must be."