Hoffman Estates breakfast honors King's legacy with call to action

Hoffman Estates community leaders and residents gathered with neighbors from surrounding communities Monday to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Hoffman Estates Cultural Awareness Commission's 18th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, themed "Rising Together: Our Path to the Mountaintop," featured a keynote address by Hanover Park Trustee Herb Porter.

In his address, Porter spoke of the mountaintop - a reference to King's "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech delivered the day before his assassination - as not a destination, but a stop on a journey.

He also encouraged his fellow leaders in local government to do more to eliminate our culture's "pervasive" implicit biases that create barriers for minorities and other disadvantaged people in society.

"In all areas of our culture, we must be vigilant in our efforts to eradicate all biases from our daily discourse," he said. "Let's join together and be the change as we march toward the promised land."

Porter later described King as a "champion of love."

"Not of a romanticized love, but a pragmatic, practical love, that made him stand up against the powers of the day and demand freedom, equality and opportunity for those so long denied these basic elements of the American dream."