The heritage committee aboard aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) held an observance of the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the mess decks, Jan. 26.

The event featured members of the heritage committee sharing an overview of King's storied accomplishments, playing a recording of his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech, and guest speaker Cmdr. Jason Davis spoke of the impact King has had on his life.

"Dr. King, he has always been a personal hero of mine," said Davis. "His accomplishments are absolutely amazing. Dr. King was also a philosopher, besides being the architect of the civil rights movement. In his philosophy, he talked about something called 'The Beloved Society' that's not something like a utopian dream where everyone loves each other and such. He was working towards something where we talk about 'and justice for all.' When we have conflict we can settle it peacefully, through talking and through understanding and serving others in the hope bringing about a better society."

Chief Boatswain's Mate David Brown said King's message is fundamentally significant for service members.

"You have so many different cultures and nationalities within the Navy," said Chief Boatswain's Mate David Brown. It is important to address, so people know their history. There are some things people may not know, and so they come to events like this.

In 1955, King received a doctorate in systematic theology at 26 years old and became the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. In the same year, he became the leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

During the boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, along with other personal attacks, but he emerged successful and a symbol of hope for equality in the United States.

The peaceful protests resulted in a Supreme Court ruling the segregation of buses unconstitutional.

The most important thing I think he did was try to bring people together and implant in everybody that everybody is created equal, said Personnel Specialist 1st Class Salvador Murillo.

His ideals were gleaned from his faith and intellectual understanding of Christianity, his peaceable protesting techniques from Mahatma Gandhi -- who brought change to his native India and South Africa with nonviolent civil disobedience.

I enjoyed the speech, said Murillo. It was really nice hearing a different perspective and hearing the quotes from Dr. King. He changed the way that minorities were looked at; a lot of us wouldn't be here doing what we are doing if it wasn't for the sacrifices he made. As a minority, we are no longer viewed just as manual labor, as not-equal citizens. Now we are viewed as educated citizens. We are no longer limited.

Ending racial discrimination was a prominent goal for King, but solidifying equality in United States laws was his overall objective. While being the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for African-American justice, he also fought for human rights such as poverty and worker's rights.

He created more of a purpose for me to help out other people in the world, of all different races, said Seaman Trinity Sells. Right now Native Americans are fighting the pipeline that's going through their reservation, and a lot of them are using peaceful protest techniques -- it was so effective for Dr. King -- to get their point across.

In his quest, King traveled over 6 million miles; spoke at more than 2,500 gatherings, appearing wherever his voice of equality, fairness, and action was needed; and wrote five books and numerous articles.

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