“If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.”
Martin Luther King Jr., Christmas speech 1967
April 4th 2018, thus today, marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, TN, USA.
In remembrance of Dr. King, I also thought to write few words on the topic, in light of sports. On 28th of August 1963, thus almost 55 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his influential speech – ‘I have a dream’. At the age of 34 and standing on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, US, in the front of about 250 000 people that came to listen, pastor King essentially called for equal rights for black and white people. In this regard much still remains to be done, but much progress has fortunately also occurred from those times.
Dr. Ilkka Heinonen holds an adjunct professorship in exercise and cardiovascular physiology at the Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine and works currently at the Turku PET Centre as a Collegium researcher of Turku Collegium of Science and Medicine at the University of Turku, Turku, Finland. He is also a visiting research scientist at the Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He has collaborated extensively with numerous international researchers and laboratories in Europe, USA and Asia.