A Bermudian who was friends with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King has urged young people to heed his legacy today, the 40th anniversary of his assassination.

Former PLP and NLP Member of Parliament Austin Thomas said: "I want young people to appreciate his message. You must give of yourself to make life better for those who are disadvantaged."

Mr. Thomas met with Rev. King while attending Howard University in Washington, D.C., after the civil rights activist preached at the university chapel.

He has previously told The Royal Gazette: "I talked with Dr. King often because he would come to the university and meet with the foreign students.

"I took every opportunity to speak with him because this was when he was suffering through the civil rights movement and all the injustices and he encouraged us to fight those injustices when we returned to our own countries."

He attended Rev. King's funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, and was privileged to have been able to pay his last respects to the activist.

"No one officially went from Bermuda to Dr. King's funeral because a lot of people didn't want to acknowledge the things he did.

"But a small delegation of us went and we stood all night in line at Ebenezer Baptist Church to pay our respects and I marched from the Church to Morehouse College the day of his funeral.

"I was next to a woman who had been imprisoned with Dr. King and she walked barefoot the whole way.

"She shared with me the difficulties of the time and I felt very fortunate to have experienced and it was a special privilege at the time."

Mr. Thomas returned to Bermuda after university in 1961 to take up a career in teaching amid what he describes as "a very rabid racist society."

However, his friendship with Dr. King inspired him to try to make a difference both as an educator and through his political career, which spanned 20 years after he was elected in 1968.

"Much of what I was able to do in my own life has been greatly influenced by him.

"Dr. King fought to make life as it should be for all people and of course when I came home I took on that outlook myself and engaged myself — at great sacrifice to my family — in representing what was best for Bermuda in the legislature," he explained.

Of the Island on the anniversary of Dr. King's death he remarked: "Bermuda has come a very long way and I'm particularly glad that I returned home to be a part of making change.

: Of course, there's still much which has to be done, but we've come a long way."