The Gantt Report -Happy Birthday Dr. King. You were born on this date, January 15th, and no matter how much the devil likes to change the calendar and distort the dates that are important to us, the real players honor you on the date God blessed us with your birth.

But the days of our lives is not what this week’s column is about.

One of Dr. King’s greatest legacies was his courage. Martin Luther King was not afraid to stand up, not afraid to speak out, not afraid to picket and boycott, not afraid to protest and march and Dr. Martin Luther King was never afraid to confront the discriminatory, segregationist and, some say, racist beast.

Everybody loves Dr. King. Regardless of the race, Dr. King has admirers of all colors and creeds.

I love what Dr. King stood for. I love justice. I love peace. I love freedom. I love equality.

No, I’m not a proponent of non-violence. I believe sometimes violent people will refuse to take a step back unless they become faced with equal or superior violence.

George W. Bush is not non-violent and neither were his predecessors throughout American history including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry!

I believe people that choose to live by the sword at the same time, also choose to die by that same manner or at least put themselves in such a precarious position.

Yes, I remember when the King family lived two doors down from my family members on Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue. I remember Yolanda “Yoki” King running around the high school we attended together. She was a freshman when I was a senior, to me a little girl.

I remember Ebenezer Baptist Church and deciding to go there, nearby Wheat Street Baptist or to my own smaller place of worship, Little Friendship Baptist church in Atlanta.

But what I remember most is how Dr. King influenced my decision to take up the cause.

God gave me the gift of writing and literary expression but Dr. King was one person who gave me a reason to use my gift to inform and educate my people. Who among us will give today’s youth a reason to do right? (Gantt will have two books released in 2008 including the long awaited "Beast Too: Dead Man Writing". Contact Lucius at www.allworldconsultants.net)