National Urban League President Marc H. Morial told a full house of students at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation that they need to be active, not passive. The convocation was held on Jan. 18 in B.N. Duke Auditorium.

Morial used the analogy of a thermometer, which merely reflects the temperature of a room, and a thermostat, which sets the temperature of a room.

“Don’t stand on the side as thermometers,” said Morial. “Become thermostats.”

The best way to honor the memory of King, according to Morial, would be by becoming a thermostat.

According to Morial, King was the most important American in 20th century.

Morial said King’s ideology can be summed up in one sentence: “If anyone is suffering we all are suffering.”

He said King’s significance is often overlooked because young people only see media clips again and again that repeat the same moments of his life.

“The media shows films and clips of King’s greatest works, but not enough,” said Morial.

The clips alone fail to capture how King led the civil rights movement that changed the course of American history, he said.

Morial asked and answered this question: “If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were here today, 40 years later, what would he have to say about the 21st century?”

“He would be happy and sad,” said Morial. “He would be grateful to see the number of African-Americans increasing in the practice of law, engineering and medicine for minorities.”

Morial said King would be happy that the African-American middle class is four times larger than it was in 1965.

“If King could see that 30,000 students attend historically black colleges , he would yell out a great cheer,” said Morial.

Morial said King would be sad to see current rates of black on black violence. He said King would be sad about rates of drug abuse, sad to see how many people of color are still excluded from key institutions in American life, and sad to see current racial gaps in home ownership and employment.

And he said King would be sad to see the violence and war in the Middle East.

“The speech inspired me to continue the fight for civil liberties,” said biology senior Charity Battle. “It let me know that I can leave a legacy.”

Morial served as a lawyer and state senator for the Louisiana Senate before serving two terms as mayor of New Orleans in 1994.

Morial was selected president of the National Urban League in May 2003.

He served four terms as mayor of New Orleans, from 1994-2002. He was also president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2001.

Morial’s father, Ernest “Dutch” Morial, was the first black mayor of New Orleans.

“Morial challenged NCCU students to go out and challenge America,” said history and education major senior Andrea Mills. “That was the best part of the speech.”