COMMENT Today, Jan 19, is a national holiday in the United States. We are celebrating Martin Luther King's birthday. King would have been 86 this year. The reality, as we know, is that he was only a very young 39 when he was murdered by a white racist.

The reality also is that through King's courageous actions - his willingness to challenge authority, to be beaten and jailed, and to face death threats many times over - he never hesitated to stand up for what was right.

Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and his theory of non-violence, King not only challenged the corrupt and illegitimate acts of the political authorities, he also challenged the silent majority to stand up for what is right.