On this Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day, integration has come up twice on a medium that seldom addresses it - television.

MoveSmart.org would never endorse or support a candidate for office. But we can't help calling attention to a pretty rare occurance - a presidential candidate talking about integration during a prime-time, televised debate. At around 8:40pm CST this evening on the CNN/CBC co-sponsored event, former Sen. John Edwards noted, "There are some things that we don't talk about... If we really believe that every American is of equal value, no matter who their family is, where they live, or the color of their skin, when are we going to start living together? We have got to, both in housing policy and economic policy and every other way, create the kind of opportunity for people to be able to move. It shouldn't just be that rich folks are able to. If they don't like their neighborhood or don't like their school or are worried about crime in their neighborhood, they are the only ones that can go somewhere else. Everybody in America ought to be able to have that chance, at the same time that we're investing in a serious way to improve all of our neighborhoods."

Let's hope that all candidates from both parties will address racial and economic integration.

Secondly, Chicago's public television station, WTTW, will be airing "The New Battle", a 30 minute documentary on Dr. King's Chicago Freedom Movement and its push for integration in the summer of 1966 tonight at 11pm 10:30pm (via Sun Times). If you would like to learn more about the Chicago Freedom Movement, CFM40 and Loyola's Center for Urban Research and Learning have great websites on the subject.

photo via jupiterimages.com