Today, too many would-be movement leaders simply want to be Dr. King or Mrs. Rosa Parks: they want the glory and privilege of leadership without the burdens or sacrifice and sustained hard work. Movements are not built from the top down by powerful leaders but percolate from the bottom up from people who share common grievances.
In 1961, Martin Luther King Jr. and President Kennedy took a stroll through the White House. When they passed the Lincoln Bedroom, King noticed the Emancipation Proclamation wall, and took the opportunity to raise the issue of civil rights. He suggested something radical: a second Emancipation Proclamation.
"Well our lives were threatened, you know we went to a march in Frankfort, Ky., as part of the Civil Rights movement where we got the direct message, if you go to this march you will be killed. And even though Mary was pregnant with her second daughter at the time, we didn't even give it a second thought."