Martin Luther King III speaks on spending time together with his father and elevating his daughter to attach together with his legacy on the “My Legacy” podcast, a co-production by iHeartPodcasts and Legacy+.
From Legacy+, iHeartPodcasts and The Martin Luther King III Basis is “My Legacy” –– a brand new podcast hosted by Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, Craig Kielburger, and Marc Kielburger.
Launched in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day (1.20.2025), the podcast explores the defining moments and untold struggles shaping the legacies of extraordinary leaders –– upcoming friends embrace Mel Robbins, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, David Oyelowo, Billy Porter, Martin Sheen, and lots of extra.
Within the inaugural episode, the 4 hosts introduce themselves and supply a sneak peek of what’s to return.
Listeners will hear never-been-told tales concerning the King legacy, the Kings share their love story and talk about how they’re elevating Dr. King’s solely grandchild.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
- [24:45] – Martin and Arndrea King Share the Story of How They Met
ARNDREA: “We had been truly launched on a blind date. There have been two people who had been out and so they met one another and so they instructed that we meet one another. So we got one another’s cellphone numbers. We talked on the cellphone a couple of occasions and we agreed that we had been going to satisfy. And the day and time that we had set, say it was one o’clock, one o’clock got here and went. Martin wasn’t there. 1:05 got here and went. By 1:10, I used to be furious. However I knew for some cause that he would name as a result of we had such nice conversations. I additionally although, had made the choice that he had completely 1000% no likelihood of us ever assembly, courting or connecting, interval. Then about 1:15, a good friend who had been on a number of the calls referred to as and stated, ‘I’m so sorry. Martin was referred to as out of city on an emergency, and I used to be purported to name earlier and I’m so sorry and may you reschedule?’ I stated, ‘positive.’ So he stated, okay, ‘he’ll decide you up subsequent Saturday at X time.’ I stated, ‘oh, no, that’s okay. We are able to meet.’ As a result of by this time, I had made the choice that I used to be going to satisfy him so I can look him in his eyes, inform him off, inform him this isn’t the way you deal with a woman. I felt at this level, this was a mission for all feminine variety, as a result of at this level, he had completely no likelihood with me. However I felt the necessity to be sure that no matter woman comes subsequent, that he would know how you can deal with them.”
MARTIN: “So the second assembly occurred on a Saturday, perhaps per week later…I got here in and we went to a desk and we talked, I don’t know, an hour and a half, and it was nice. She didn’t point out one time at the moment that ‘You already know [your friend] didn’t name me.’ So the dialog was I suppose, intriguing. However she was simply so superb. Initially, she was lovely then, she’s much more lovely now.
ARNDREA: “I used to be like, ‘oh, yeah, no, that is going to be 5 minutes and I’m out of right here. I positively want to highschool this man.’ That was the intention… Curiously sufficient, when Martin got here in, there was simply this fast… Anybody who’s ever been in Martin’s presence or met Martin, they’ll attest to simply this extraordinary love and light-weight that emanates from him, which truly, frankly, I wasn’t anticipating, and that’s what I suppose disarmed me. After which I in a short time realized that this really is without doubt one of the finest males that I had ever met. So his coronary heart saved him.”
- [95:33] – Martin and Arndrea Share What They Love Most About Every Different
MARTIN: “There’s not one particular factor that I like most. I like the truth that on daily basis she wakes up and the primary factor is no matter what we’re going by way of and what’s occurring on this planet, and there are occasions after we all don’t wish to do issues, she at all times does the fitting factor. Not typically, at all times.”
ARNDREA: “His coronary heart. He really leads and lives on this planet together with his coronary heart. And I keep in mind as soon as the comic Dick Gregory, when he was introducing Martin, he stated, ‘this man walks in love’ and that’s Martin. And it’s that means on stage, off stage, at house. That and in addition his humor. He’s extraordinarily humorous.”
- [30:35] – Arndrea Displays on Elevating the Solely Grandchild of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King
MARC: “You additionally after all have the one grandchild of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, a lot of the King’s legacy, after all, will likely be constantly handed right down to her. What’s that like? What’s that dynamic like being a father and a mom, but additionally having to nurture and love and cherish a toddler that has candidly a number of expectations possible on her shoulders?”
ARNDREA: “For me, I feel from the time that Yolanda was born nearly till now, one of many issues that I’ve regularly stated to her is that being the grandchild of Martin Luther King Jr. And Coretta Scott King is one thing distinctive, nevertheless it’s not what makes you vital, however what does make you vital is who you’re as a toddler of God. And likewise to do not forget that that’s the identical factor that makes each individual that you just are available in contact with vital. And I feel it’s an excellent mixture, as a result of in some methods there are specific issues about Yolanda and her upbringing and who she is that Martin can perceive in a really distinctive means being raised, being born into the legacy. I feel that there’s a commonality that they’ve, it’s completely different than marrying into the legacy. And I feel my best present to her is the present of normalcy as a result of I wasn’t raised or born into that. I feel additionally to have that stability and that present is one thing that I’m intentional in making an attempt to instill in her that groundedness and the normalcy of life.”
- [32:20] – Martin Shares Recollections of Spending High quality Time with His Father
CRAIG: “We all know your father, after all, as this unbelievable icon of civil rights, however to you, he was Dad, are you able to share with us a number of the moments when he got here again off being on the highway and what it was wish to spend time with him?”
MARTIN: “After I was a really younger youngster, most likely 7, 8, 9 years outdated, nearly each week my father would journey someplace and I might see him strolling up the steps of our house. It was nearly like he might barely make it up the steps. However he understood, on reflection, that whereas I’ve a small amount of time, I wish to create the very best quality expertise for my kids. So we had been so excited as a result of dad was coming house and as I regarded out and noticed him carrying the load of the world, when he noticed us, that power shifted dramatically to a surge, and it was like ‘Daddy’s house!’ and he would smile, an enormous smile would come over his face. He devoted all his time in direction of satisfying us at that second.”
- [33:50] – Arndrea Shares How The Kings are Serving to Their Daughter Join together with her Grandfather’s Legacy
MARC: “After all, you’re the mother and father to the one grandchild of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King. How do you assist her join with him and his work?”
ARNDREA: “The blessing is that there are a lot of speeches of her grandfather and interviews, and definitely there are a lot of tales that she hears instantly from Martin. However it’s fascinating, when it actually dawned on me how a lot she actually sought, and in an actual sense missed the human reference to him is that we go very often to the memorial in DC to her grandfather, and I seen when she was little that there’s this one specific image that she at all times was adamant that we needed to get the place she’s type of sitting [on the King memorial]. There’s this small little ledge on the stone of Hope the place he’s popping out of. And each time she was like, ‘I wish to sit there. I wish to sit there’ and so we at all times took that image there. After which one time she stated to me, ‘Mommy, the rationale that I like sitting there may be that that is the closest that I can ever be to sitting in his lap.’ So that’s when it actually additionally dawned on me. I feel once more, that folks see sure points of the King legacy, like so many different households, however then additionally the trauma. I feel that’s one of many causes she, at a younger age, spoke out on gun violence. She labored with the Parkland college students and spoke on the rally with 800,000 college students with solely two hours discover. However she was at all times very enthusiastic about gun violence, not solely being raised throughout a time the place lockdowns and this stuff are all too frequent, however she was at all times cognizant that her grandfather and her great-grandmother weren’t right here due to weapons and gun violence.”
- [41:49] – Arndrea on Her Relationship with Coretta Scott King and Conserving Her Reminiscence Alive
CRAIG: “Not as many individuals are acquainted with Coretta Scott King and particularly will not be acquainted with who she was, not solely as a pacesetter, and she or he was in her personal proper, however simply as an individual and as [her] quickly to be daughter-in-law, what was that relationship like?”
ARNDREA: “Effectively, I nonetheless suppose that folks don’t actually perceive what an unbelievable chief she was in her personal proper. We wouldn’t have the King vacation if it weren’t for her. We actually, I feel, wouldn’t even have the legacy in a really actual sense if it weren’t for her safety and route. She and I shared a love of the opera, so we’d attend the opera collectively, which was actually particular for me. However that definitely was fantastic. The final yr of her life, I had the immense alternative to spend so much of one-on-one time together with her and truly I’d spend each Friday evening together with her, simply she and I. And so a few of my fondest recollections are each of us moving into our pajamas and watching the Golden Women. One of many issues now that I look again, as a result of she would inform me so many tales about her rising up in Marion, Alabama and just a few tales about her and her early years of marriage to Martin’s father, however now it nearly was that she was infusing all of those tales in me from her personal lips in order that I might inform our daughter all of those tales about her grandmother rising up in Marion, Alabama. That’s not from an interview, that’s not from a e-book.”
