than ever before . '' Steele points to 1963 , when tens of thousands of protesters converged on Washington to demand equal rights . It was there King delivered his `` I Have a Dream '' speech from the Lincoln Memorial steps . President Kennedy 's administration was considered the most receptive ever to the concerns of the civil rights movement , Steele said . But rather than sit back and hope Kennedy did the right thing , King and thousands stormed Washington to lay out demands that later would yield the Civil Rights Act and National Voting Rights Act . Those down for the cause today must do the same with Obama , Steele said . `` Back in the '60s we were fighting for President-elect Barack Obama ; we just did n't know it was him , '' Steele said . `` It was civil rights , not politics , that got us to this position , and we ca n't forget that . '' Andrew Young remembers pickets outside City Hall the day he took office as Atlanta 's second black mayor in 1982 . Young , a former King lieutenant , said he was initially confused
ATLANTA , Georgia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Barack Obama 's inauguration marks a profound manifestation of the Rev. Martin Luther King 's dream , civil rights leaders say , but the movement would be foolish to drop its guard now . Christine King Farris sits next to a photo of her brother as she reads to kids to commemorate his birthday Thursday . King did not fight tirelessly and ultimately give his life so African-Americans could take office ; he fought for the disenfranchised and downtrodden , no matter their color , said Charles Steele , president and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , which King and Steele 's father helped found . `` President-elect Barack Obama is just a piece of the puzzle , '' he said . `` This tells us that we are at a station , but it 's not our destination . We 've got to get back on the train . '' Steele said he worries that those who espouse King 's dream may grow lackadaisical because an African-American has taken the reins of the free world . But it is imperative , he said , that they `` march now more