Bishop Woodie White's annual letter to Martin Luther King Jr.

I was glad to see that Bishop Wood White has not given up his annual letter to Dr. King even though he retired from active ministry this year. His letter always brings hope when I sometimes feel hopeless about racism. He brings up a good point about the appointment of Condi Rice to Secretary of State. Though I don't support her positions and politics, I, too, was suprised that so little was made in way of celebrating this highest post ever held in government by an African-American woman. Check out the whole letter here:
Bishop rejoices at progress in letter to Martin Luther King Jr. -
Dec. 14, 2004
Each year, United Methodist Bishop Woodie W. White writes a 'birthday' letter to his late colleague, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., about the progress of racial equality in the United States. Now retired and serving as bishop-in-residence at United Methodist-related Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, White was the first top staff executive of the denomination�s racial equality monitoring agency, the Commission on Religion and Race. Americans honor King's memory on the third Monday of January.
and an excerpt:

Dear Martin,
As I begin this letter I must tell you of an incident involving one of your closest associates and one of my dearest friends. A few months ago, he and I were on a panel addressing the issue of race in the United Methodist Church. We were especially assessing the gains made or not made, since the discontinuance of the Central Jurisdiction. This was the racially segregated organizational structure created by the denomination in 1939. In 1968, it was not continued when a new denomination, the United Methodist Church, was organized.
Following the panel presentation, a woman addressed a question to me, inquiring if I intended to continue my annual letter to you, indicating how much it was appreciated. I indicated it was my intent to continue this practice begun in 1976. Whereupon, our colleague quipped, 'Yes, Woodie, continue, I just talked to Martin and he said he enjoyed hearing from you!' The audience howled. Vintage Joe Lowery!"