The holiday brought a stream of events to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, the great leader of the civil rights struggles in this country in the 1950s and 1960s.

For those of us who lived during those years, it was an opportunity to recall the contentious times which marked those decades. It was a period of a great divide in this country, a time when the evil of racism was challenged head-on by the then-young Atlanta minister and a burgeoning group of other southern church leaders, gathered together under the banner of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

And even though those struggles were seen along largely racial lines, the division in this country was more, much more. It was a time of conflict in the age-old separation between poor people and persons of means, upper class and working class. And they were battles that played out on newspaper front pages, on every evening TV newscast, and around many family dinner tables.

Dr. King was remembered in Dorchester on Monday afternoon at a forum at the Kennedy Library, a tribute to two late black women, Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm, both elected to the US Congress as a direct consequence of Dr. King's movement. The forum featured three women who knew them: Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California, former Texas Governor Ann Richards, and PBS/ABC News political reporter Cokie Roberts. It was moderated by Harvard University's Callie Crossley.

The panelists reminded us that Martin Luther King would have been just 77 years old last weekend. He was in Memphis in 1968 to support underpaid rubbish workers on strike for a living wage when he was assassinated on a hotel balcony. He was just 39 years old.

Back in 1964 when Martin Luther King came to Boston and for a South End rally and a speech at the Boston Common, I joined the marchers along Columbus Avenue and heard him give an inspirational speech at the Parkman Bandstand. The program on Monday was a reminder of the great fervor and vision of the man, and how much has been done because of him, and how much remains to be accomplished.

There was a time not long ago when a national holiday in Dr. King's name was controversial. Today, almost four decades after his death, it is a time to ask just how far America has come. The Atlanta minister preached peace, non-violence, and Christianity, and he lived out his all too short life by those principles. His story is a life lesson for all of us.

- Ed Forry

Jere O'Sullivan, R.I.P.

The Reporter grieves the loss this week of a dear member of its extended family. Jeremiah "Jere" O'Sullivan, father of our own Jim O'Sullivan, died unexpectedly last Saturday after an apparent heart attack. Jere leaves behind his wife Elizabeth, son Jim, daughters Kate and Meghan, along with his son-in-law Kevin Williams and "second son" Nick Herzog.

Jere O'Sullivan will be remembered here as a fun-loving, gregarious guy, but most of all, a devoted dad who relished his tight-knit family and was proud of their many accomplishments. He will be deeply missed and fondly remembered.

-E.F.