Thursday marks the 45th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. In his hometown of Atlanta a wreath will be laid outside the church he once led. Church leaders are also challenging youth to 50 days of nonviolence.

In Macon, King’s close friend and former speechwriter paid a visit to Stewart Chapel AME, a church King once spoke at.

Vincent Harding drafted King’s historic April 1967 antiwar speech “Beyond Vietnam.” But He doesn’t like to consider himself a speechwriter. He says he was Dr. King’s friend of like mindedness.

"Shortly after Martin was assassinated and everybody was talking about what kind of monument were we going to build to him someone wrote a poem which he included the words it is easier to build monuments than to build a better world."

In a community, like Macon, which is still plagued by racial divide, Harding says if we are serious about King being our hero than we better get to work on building a more racially united community.

Tags: Civil Rights, Jr., Martin Luther King, Vincent Harding