February 2026, for the Oregon Secretary of State
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Pastor Hennessee for the invitation. It’s good to be with you as we come together to honor Dr. King’s legacy once again, at a time when his words speak to us with renewed urgency.
These are challenging, difficult times marked by uncertainty, division and even the sense that the foundations of our democracy are being tested. Many of us feel the strain in our communities, in our work and even in our own spirits.
And yet it’s precisely in these times that Dr. King’s life reminds us of who we are called to be – not when the road is smooth, but when it’s rough. Dr. King met these moments of hardship with a simple, powerful answer: service.
One of Dr. King’s enduring beliefs is that anyone can serve. Service does not require a college degree or an understanding of philosophy or science. He said we “… only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”
My own understanding of service is informed by my father and shaped by the Civil Rights Movement. During the Vietnam War, my father was a conscientious objector, and did alternative service. In 1965, he joined a group that went to Rock Hill, South Carolina to help register Black citizens to vote.
Rock Hill, as many of you know, is a place known for courage and for cruelty... In Rock Hill Black students were denied service at a lunch counter. And in Rock Hill, the Freedom Riders, including the great John Lewis, were violently attacked for challenging segregation.
The work my dad and his group did was hard and sometimes dangerous. This was a multi-racial group of young men and women from outside of South Carolina, and that was not a popular thing with all the locals. One day the group took a break to play miniature golf for fun. They were confronted by a group of young white people who hurled racial slurs and threats. And as my dad’s group drove away, someone threw a brick through the car window. For a moment, they feared it was a bomb because of a glow on the brick. Fortunately, the glow turned out to be a lit cigarette, and no one was hurt. But they were all shaken.
What matters most is that they did not stop. They returned the next day and the day after. They continued the work they came to do.
This lesson from my Dad has stayed with me. It taught me that we have to do the right thing, all of us, even when it’s not easy. Even when it’s unpopular and even when it’s dangerous. It’s something I think about every day in my role, and I know it’s something that people in our state think about every day as citizens in this difficult moment. We are facing a moment of reckoning – and when history looks back on this moment, I wonder will we have to say we were silent or will we be able to say we answered Dr. King’s call to serve?
The people in this room already understand Dr King’s call to service as something lived, not just remembered. Earlier this year, I had the privilege of working alongside some of you to serve meals downtown to hungry people, many of them unhoused. You all showed then, and continue to show now, that civic engagement is much more than casting a ballot. You prove that acts of service and acts of kindness are their own kind of civic engagement and have the power to overwhelm fear and bring dignity to those in need.
So let me close by saying this: in times like these, it’s easy to feel tired and overwhelmed. But I want you to know that you’re not carrying the load by yourselves. I see what you do, and I stand with you. Dr. King’s legacy and your example are reminders that we will move forward because everyday people refuse to give up. Everyday people will continue to light the way through service and steady commitment to justice.
When you leave this place today – please - leave with encouragement. Know that your service is vital, that your voices matter, and that you have partners in this work who will walk with you, stand up with you, and when it’s needed, stand up for you.
Thank you. This work is hard. The work is long. But it’s a lot easier when we’re together. So let’s stay connected and move forward as one.