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 company embody 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 come back.
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 have been really launched on a blind date. There have been two folks that have been out and so they met one another and so they steered that we meet one another. So we got one another’s cellphone numbers. We talked on the cellphone a couple of instances and we agreed that we have 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 purpose 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 probability of us ever assembly, courting or connecting, interval. Then about 1:15, a buddy 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 might you reschedule?’ I stated, ‘certain.’ So he stated, okay, ‘he’ll decide you up subsequent Saturday at X time.’ I stated, ‘oh, no, that’s okay. We will 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 girl. I felt at this level, this was a mission for all feminine sort, as a result of at this level, he had completely no probability with me. However I felt the necessity to ensure that no matter woman comes subsequent, that he would know the right way to deal with them.”
MARTIN: “So the second assembly occurred on a Saturday, possibly every 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 understand [your friend] didn’t name me.’ So the dialog was I suppose, intriguing. However she was simply so wonderful. To start with, 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… Apparently sufficient, when Martin got here in, there was simply this instant… Anybody who’s ever been in Martin’s presence or met Martin, they’ll attest to simply this extraordinary love and lightweight that emanates from him, which really, 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 really like most. I really like the truth that daily she wakes up and the principle factor is no matter what we’re going by means of and what’s occurring on the earth, and there are occasions once we all don’t wish to do issues, she at all times does the proper factor. Not generally, at all times.”
ARNDREA: “His coronary heart. He really leads and lives on the earth together with his coronary heart. And I bear 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 approach on stage, off stage, at residence. 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 in fact have the one grandchild of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, a lot of the King’s legacy, in fact, shall be constantly handed right down to her. What’s that like? What’s that dynamic like being a father and a mom, but in addition having to nurture and love and cherish a baby that has candidly numerous expectations doubtless on her shoulders?”
ARNDREA: “For me, I believe from the time that Yolanda was born virtually 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, but it surely’s not what makes you necessary, however what does make you necessary is who you might be as a baby of God. And likewise to do not forget that that’s the identical factor that makes each individual that you simply are available in contact with necessary. And I believe it’s a superb 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 approach being raised, being born into the legacy. I believe that there’s a commonality that they’ve, it’s completely different than marrying into the legacy. And I believe my biggest present to her is the present of normalcy as a result of I wasn’t raised or born into that. I believe additionally to have that steadiness 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, in fact, 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 street and what it was wish to spend time with him?”
MARTIN: “Once I was a really younger baby, in all probability 7, 8, 9 years outdated, virtually each week my father would journey someplace and I may see him strolling up the steps of our residence. It was virtually like he may barely make it up the steps. However he understood, looking back, that whereas I’ve a small amount of time, I wish to create the very best quality expertise for my kids. So we have been so excited as a result of dad was coming residence and as I regarded out and noticed him carrying the burden of the world, when he noticed us, that vitality shifted dramatically to a surge, and it was like ‘Daddy’s residence!’ 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 along with her Grandfather’s Legacy
MARC: “In fact, you’re the dad and mom 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 immediately from Martin. Nevertheless 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 observed when she was little that there’s this one explicit image that she at all times was adamant that we needed to get the place she’s form 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 explanation 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 believe once more, that individuals see sure facets of the King legacy, like so many different households, however then additionally the trauma. I believe 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 keen about gun violence, not solely being raised throughout a time the place lockdowns and this stuff are all too widespread, 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 Retaining 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 frontrunner, 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: “Properly, I nonetheless assume that individuals 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 believe, wouldn’t even have the legacy in a really actual sense if it weren’t for her safety and path. She and I shared a love of the opera, so we’d attend the opera collectively, which was actually particular for me. However that actually was great. The final yr of her life, I had the immense alternative to spend so much of one-on-one time along with her and truly I might spend each Friday evening along with her, simply she and I. And so a few of my fondest reminiscences are each of us entering into our pajamas and watching the Golden Ladies. 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 virtually was that she was infusing all of those tales in me from her personal lips in order that I may 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 guide.”
