How Martin Luther King III And Arndrea Waters King Are Bringing MLK’s Vision Into The Present – Essence

Every year, MLK Day isn’t just a time to reflect—it’s a call to action. As the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of Service, it reminds us that honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy means more than remembering his words; it means living them. Whether through community service, acts of kindness, or conversations that challenge and inspire, the day is about pushing his vision forward. This year, that mission takes on a new form with My Legacy, a groundbreaking podcast launched by iHeartMedia, The Martin Luther King III Foundation, and Legacy+. Hosted by King III, human rights activist Arndrea Waters King, and Legacy+ founders Craig and Marc Kielburger, the series offers an intimate space for influential voices to share their untold stories—encouraging all of us to think about the impact we want to leave behind.

The King Family’s latest venture debuts on MLK Day as part of the broader ‘Realize the Dream’ initiative—a movement inspired by the civil rights icon’s vision of justice, equality, and love. Through thought-provoking conversations with guests like Yara Shahidi, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, David Oyelowo, Billy Porter, and Martin Sheen, My Legacy uncovers untold stories about these luminaries, often shared through the perspectives of those who know them best.

For obvious reasons, the podcast is deeply personal. “We’re all heirs to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.,” Waters King tells ESSENCE. “The only way to build the beloved community he envisioned is by embracing our own unique power and connection.” The couple also emphasizes the importance of addressing the growing sense of disconnection in society, particularly among younger generations.

This message is echoed in their best-selling book, What Is My Legacy?: Realizing a New Dream of Connection, Love and Fulfillment, which expands on the concept of ‘Living Legacy.’ Co-authored with the Kielburgers, the release offers a framework for rethinking legacy—not as an endpoint, but as an active, daily practice. It features never-before-told stories from the King family, alongside insights from thought leaders like the Dalai Lama, Jay Shetty, and Yara Shahidi.

While the book and podcast share a common mission, each offers a distinct entry point into the conversation. “Some people may not read a book but will listen to a podcast” Waters King explains. “This is about creating multiple avenues for people to engage with these ideas and take action in their own lives.”

With iHeartMedia awarding a $5 million Spotlight Media Grant to the ‘Realize the Dream’ initiative, the Kings hope to inspire Americans to collectively contribute 100 million hours of service by 2029—Dr. King’s centennial birthday. “This isn’t just about remembering history,” King III says. “It’s about carrying the dream forward, every single day.”

ESSENCE: What inspired the launch of the My Legacy podcast and how does it reflect the mission of the Martin Luther King III Foundation and Legacy+?

Arndrea Waters King: I was just thinking back to a question that we had with a journalist previously, and we were just talking about the fact that when you really look at where we are as a nation, we truly are in a battle for the soul of this nation. I often talk about the story of the two wolves—it’s a little girl who comes up to her grandmother and says, “Grandmother, can you help me? There’s a battle going on inside of me. These two wolves are fighting and one is full of hatred, division, anger, meanness and pettiness; the other one is full of love, justice, peace and nobleness, but they’re fighting. Can you please tell me which one will win?” And the grandmother pulls her close, looks her in the eye and says, “The wolf in which you feed.”

We feel right now that every one of us has to decide what wolf are we going to feed? Are we going to feed more anger, more division, more hatred, more violence, or are we going to feed the wolves of Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King Jr.—peace, justice, equity, nobleness of love? So one of the things that we wanted people to talk about, one of the things that we feel very strongly about is that we are all heirs to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., and that the only way that we will create the beloved community that he fought so hard for is that each one of us standing in our power, our connection, and our unique talents. Once we’re doing that, we will connect. We talked about the fact that we feel like there’s less connection in the world. We have a 16-year-old daughter, and as we were seeing the things that her peers are going through and she’s going through, we wanted to find a way to address the disconnection.

Even before we build this beloved community, we have to have a connection with ourselves first and foremost, then a connection with family. I understand that that could be a very tender issue because maybe everyone does not have a very positive family influence. But then you could make your family and then have a connection with the community at large. Once you’re doing that, you will reach fulfillment and then you would want to do something to help us all along the way, and remind us that truly we are all brothers and sisters in this together.

Martin Luther King III: And legacy is not just about what happens at the end of your life, meaning that you accumulated a lot of resources and you want to pass them on. That may be a part of it, but it’s not the totality. Or it may not necessarily be the manifestation of having a building or something named in your honor. I really want people to consider “what can I do every day to advance my legacy?” Whatever you choose it to be. So it is hopefully a tool that people can garner some positive knowledge about.

The other thing is we have these crises in our society that seem to come each and every day, frequently, and we call it permacrisis. It’s almost like saying we’re permanently in a state of crisis. And we need to think about what ways can be embraced to relieve that crisis? We can’t stay in a stage of dysfunctionalization. We have to be able to function, we have to be able to think, we need to be able to embrace creativity. Our book also has 26 additional persons who contributed like Julia Roberts, like a Dr. Sanjay Gupta…

AWK: …Billy Porter. Reverend Al Sharpton. Michael Bernard Beckwith. Yara Shadidi. We can keep going.

MLK III: Yeah. And also there are stories of our lives, my wife and I’s life, things that people hadn’t heard stories about my father and mother and my upbringing, first time that I think they’ve been shared.

Going back to the podcast, how did you two choose the first season’s lineup of guests?

AWK: We wanted to make sure that we were in the same sense of the book and we wanted to invite people that were very diverse. Particularly since diversity has become, in some circles, a bad word, diversity is something that we embrace. So we wanted to make sure that we were bringing a diverse set of guests, so that people can see themselves within the stories and also see connections that they hadn’t thought about. When they’re listening to Mel Robbins, a white woman, they’re like, “Oh, you talk menopause. My wife or my mom or my sister is going through that.” She’s talking about her and her daughter. Some stories are universal. And just as importantly we have one of the first guests is David Oyelowo and Nate Parker. And I’m excited about that one because you really see something that I don’t feel we see enough of, which is a love story, and not in the romantic sense, but in the sense of love amongst men and brothers.

Respect.

AWK: True love and respect. I am excited to be bringing that into the world that you can see and hear two men that have been through thick and thin with each other and truly love and respect each other. I’m even more excited that it’s two black men that we’re lifting up in that way and showing in that light. I can’t even think of a place or a podcast where you’re showing things like that. We also have Martin Sheen, who brought with him Father John Dear who’s been arrested over 80 times.

MLK III: Martin Sheen’s been arrested 70 times and [Father John Dear] has been arrested 80.

AWK: So, just to hear those stories and the stories of people who are every day out there standing and putting their lives on the line for our rights, even to this day. But one of the most beautiful stories out of that particular episode was them being in prison with Dr. Larson who worked with Martin’s father. The story will have to wait until the podcast, but to hear that story, it kind of brought tears to everybody’s eyes in the room. So it was just very important for us to find stories that inspire, that educate, and that lift us all up and continue to lift up peace, justice, equality and love.

How do you hope or how do you think that this audio series will resonate with younger audiences?

MLK III: I think this series, this group of interviews and because there are a number more people that we haven’t announced yet that have already said “yes;” but the goal is really to reach America where it is. These are interesting stories that everybody can relate to. There’s an old saying that I’ve heard stated many times: “Oftentimes we know the glory, but we don’t know the story.” So when you learn the story of what people have gone through, because most of us in this society now want instant success and gratification, and it may not necessarily come that way. For some people it does, but for most it doesn’t.

People may have tried things 99 times and the hundredth one, they succeeded. And that needs to be understood because if you think life is going to be easy, but that’s really not realistic. So we want people to understand that there will be goals that you can reach right away. But there are other things in life that don’t happen that way. And most people’s stories are very interesting. We’ll say, “Oh, I didn’t know they went through that.” Because we see them and they’re larger than life, but they’re also people who won’t have a name, who won’t necessarily be known, but their story will be compelling. This is about telling compelling stories because I think that’s what people want to hear, particularly those who listen to podcasts.

AWK: One thing I will also add is that some of the guests have bought younger people with them. So you have younger people that are guests on the podcast, and then we also have some young guests coming on as well. So again, so young people’s voices are interwoven throughout the stories. And also let us not forget, we have a 16-year-old daughter and there is nothing like a teenager to keep you honest. She is very vocal, very opinionated and very involved in a lot of what we do. She calls stuff cringe or tells us, “No, don’t do that.” So she also helps us make sure that it can appeal to younger people.

Mr. King, earlier you spoke briefly about one’s legacy, so I wanted to jump back to the book. How do you hope readers will approach building their own legacies after reading this book?

MLK III: A Lot of things are inspirational. And I was born into a set of circumstances that my mom did allow me and prepared me in a sense to do whatever I wanted to do by saying, “You don’t have to be a minister like your father. You don’t have to be a civil rights leader. You don’t have to go to Morehouse College.” I did end up going to Morehouse, I did become a civil and human rights leader. I have not been called to the ministry in the traditional sense. I think we are propagating a ministry through the work that we are doing with the concept of Realize the Dream, the initiative that will have 100 million hours of service completed by my father’s 100th birthday, which is 2029, and equates to the value of $3 billion.

AWK: I’m looking forward to people reading it because as soon as it starts, Martin tells his story that has never been told of the night that his father was assassinated. So we get a view into what was going on in the King household and what was going on in his heart and his mind in a way in which has never been told. And a lot of people that have read the book, they were immediately pulled in emotionally to that. But throughout the book, it gives everyone an idea of how we can, again, find ourselves within the King legacy and in that find ourselves within our own legacy. And we talk about the difficult and past difficult things that have happened in our country and what has passed down, even genetically.

We talk about epigenetics and how we can transform. We can take the best of our family legacies, but there may be parts of all of our family legacies that we don’t want to, and maybe it is because of many things. We also talk about the things that we all can take forward and things that we can also leave behind and create our new legacy. We’re saying legacy because, again, the idea is to rediscover and refine or people find themselves within the King legacy.

But it is also ultimately about tapping and finding into your own power and for everybody to remember. And as you’re reading the book, you will see the way in which it is written and interwoven that it brings up inside of each one of us that remembrance that we had when we first came here. And also the power and the information to start living it, living out your legacy immediately, no matter if you’re 16, like our daughter, or if you’re 86, you can find yourself and find inspiration and find direction and guidance in this book.

Due to the similar names of the podcast and book, are they an extension of each other?

AWK: Well, all of this ultimately is connected. It actually goes back to your initial question, which is how do we involve youth in everyone? So we’re trying to find different avenues to get people involved. Maybe everybody won’t read a book, but they’ll listen to the podcast or maybe they won’t listen to the podcast but read a book or some people will do both. But it’s one thing to have this movement because that’s really what we are hoping to build. And it’s also like anything, you have to continue to fortify yourself. In order to strengthen our families, this nation, and the world, we have to first of all strengthen ourselves. So this helps to give that foundation, and to make everything holistic.

MLK III: But again, connectivity is vitally important because we are so disconnected by so many distractions in society today. There are examples of people who have gotten hit by cars because they’re looking down at their smartphones and not paying attention to their surroundings. There are people who’ve probably been robbed because, again, they’re looking at their cell phones and not conscious of what’s going on around them.

So one of the goals is connectivity. When you realize the potential of what we as a community can do. We’re inaugurating another president, so he brings back something that was there once. And the question is, are you going to really reach out to people who were not included in the last run and you won, and so in your mind, you may think that you have a mandate. But I’m not clear that’s the case. A president has to unify our nation. We call ourselves the United States of America, but we certainly are not united. That climate has to be created.

And then of course, the courts are basically right-wing. And this is not to denigrate them, this is to deal with the truth. So how do we coexist and move forward when everything elected in terms of majority wants to take us back. And the human spirit won’t go back. The universe is moving forward. It’s not going to go back. Nothing’s going to stop the universe. If it does, we’re in a huge problem. But humankind, there’s some humans who are trying to stop progress. And those of us who’ve been on the forefront of the civil and human rights movement understand that we don’t have the luxury of just saying, “Okay, well things are going awry and there’s nothing we can do.”

We have to find constructive ways to hold elected officials accountable and challenge him. This is what my dad did. He challenged every administration. Quite frankly, yes, we talk about the Kennedy family, we talked about different other presidents, none of them just did things because it was the right thing. They may have in their minds wanted to, but they had to be pushed and forced to do that, which is right.

Therefore, we have a larger mandate to stand up for justice, stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth, to be able to change the world, the nation and the world. And guess what? We’re up to the task. Maybe some of us are tired, but I can’t think about “tired” when I think about my ancestors, who were not allowed to read by law, yet they overcame. People were enslaved for over 250 years. In fact, this nation is the largest economy in the world because it had 250 years of free labor. And so as a result, it doesn’t mean that I’m just owed something or my community is, but at a minimum, we are owed dignity and respect and fair treatment. And that’s not happening yet.

AWK: One thing I would add–for many years I worked for Reverend C.T. Vivian, who was a lieutenant of Martin’s father. He was instrumental in the Selma movement and many others. But when you go back and you think about all of these movements and campaigns that Martin’s father led, particularly Selma, every night there was a mass meeting. And yes, the meetings were about getting instructions for the next day, but more importantly it was about everybody in the community coming together and fortifying themselves for what was to come. People didn’t just show up at those marches. They were trained in nonviolent resistance, they were educated on the issues.

So if we’re talking about a movement, if we’re talking about 100 million hours of service, that’s a movement. We’re offering different ways for us to fortify ourselves. We’re not having the mass meetings like what we were having before, but every Sunday iHeartRadio is playing this podcast that’s about legacy. And you’re going to hear about Realize the Dream and you can get inspired about creating something bigger and larger than yourself.

You can read this book, finding love, connection and fulfillment, finding yourself in the stories of Billy Porter, Sanjay Gupta, Julia Roberts, our stories and more. This is about finding your legacy, taking the best of the lessons of the past, and finding a way to utilize those in 2025. We want people to see this and say, “I want to be a part of that and I want to heal myself and my family and feel connection. Let me go out and do something for my community and do something to make the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King real.”