The Justice

"This world we live in is a balanced place," he said. "If you are one of those people who expresses change with your lips and does not embody it with your being, you are simply blowing hot air into a world that definitely in these economic climactic times doesn't need it," Booker said.

He quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to further demonstrate this message saying, "'Change does not blow in on the wheels of inevitability.' It must be carried in on the backs of soldiers of justice, of truth, of love."

"You live in the world's oldest constitutional democracy, and democracy is not a spectator sport. ... This democracy is a full-contact, participatory engagement. You must get into the arena," Booker said.

Booker exemplified "getting in the arena," by sharing the story of his 10-day hunger strike to encourage local authorities to address rising crime rates. He explained that he hundreds of people eventually joined his efforts, including community leaders; representatives from hospitals that performed health screenings for children and senior citizens; and businesses that set up tables for job screenings and hired people joined Booker's initiative as well. A business owner in New York who had seen Booker on television even sent 500 pizzas, which "really ticked me off since I was on a hunger strike," Booker said.

On the 10th day of the strike, the mayor, whom Booker had described as his adversary, finally came to speak to Booker. "It was almost like an arena for boxing; he and I met in the middle," Booker said. But the moment Booker recalled in his speech was not the confrontation but the final prayer of the strike. "At this point, it wasn't just a handful of residents and me and my staff praying. There were literally well over 100 people there praying. … When I joined hands with them, feeling naked and raw from 10 days without eating, I'm telling you it was a point in my life that I felt so strong, the strongest I had ever felt," he said.

Continued...

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