Jan. 13, 2011 | Speaking at a UAMS event commemorating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Arkansas State Sen. Joyce Elliott called for action – not just words – in creating a nation that embodies King’s famous dream of a equal opportunity.

Citing the words of French philosopher Paul Valéry that to realize one’s dreams they must first wake up, Elliott issued a challenge to get outside one’s comfort zone, ask questions and get involved in issues from education to the legal system to public service.

A native of tiny Willisville in southwest Arkansas, Elliott said her own awakening came as one of a group of African American students who integrated Willisville High School and was later galvanized by the 1968 assassinations of civil rights leader King and presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

“That year seared in my soul the importance of public service and doing what I could to change people’s lives,” said Elliott, who spent 31 years as a school teacher. She has served 10 years in the state Legislature, first in the House and, since 2009, in the Senate.

Elliott, of Little Rock, noted that King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is more widely known and justifiably so for its call for racial equality and an end to discrimination. For herself, she pointed to King’s 1967 speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as speaking more to her with its call to ask questions of societal issues of race and poverty.

To ask those questions, she said, first one must first understand that language and the words they use matter but at the same time create a space where these difficult issues can be discussed “where we don’t point fingers whenever someone uses the wrong word.” Also, if one has to look around before having a conversation about something, she said, then it’s going to be difficult to move forward and make positive change the way King would’ve wanted.

She highlighted a few issues where she said one could commit to make a difference.

With education, she asked, “What do you know about your local school?” before adding that Arkansans should be involved and share responsibility for all children – not just their own – because society depends on the success of all. While Arkansas is making improvements in education, she said, there is still work to do.

Under the topic of working Arkansans, she called for valuing the work done by everyone, whether it’s leaving a tip for those who clean your hotel room or looking those who serve you in the eye. “Dr. King worried about those who were invisible. When you look a person in the eye, that’s a way of valuing that person’s work,” she said.

And involvement in public service or politics does not have to mean running for office, Elliott said. She recalled the words of former U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas who referred to politics as “the way we run our country.”

Elliott said that trying to make a difference in our nation means getting involved in politics.

“Don’t just vote,” she said, “Get involved. Be informed. Engage people when they say something you think is off the wall.”

By moving outside of one’s comfort zone to make a positive change in the world, she said, “we give ourselves a chance that this day is not just talk.”

She added, “Dr. King said we must move with audacious faith toward a better future. We need to do the things that we know in our soul that we can do.”