The following comments are from her acceptance speech. Thank you for this wonderful honor. It is both thrilling and touching to be honored by one s peers, and I am deeply touched. Yet, on the other hand, there is a suggestion of pragmatism, of being grounded in reality. To the extent that I rise to your expectations and possess the vision worthy of this honor, the right combination of soul and pragmatism, it is a gift from my parents who possessed an idealism tempered by reality and who subscribed to the view that if you wish for peace, you must fight for justice.
Peace is a larger concept than the absence of war.
And fighting does not necessarily mean taking up arms. In her own way, and with my father s support, she challenged their bigotry, questioning their humanity and even their professed Christianity. She looked injustice in the eye, and took a stand. She prevailed, and everyone went to prom in 1969. It is 1998, but injustice is alive and well.