There is a power in love that our world has not discovered yet. Jesus discovered it centuries ago. Mahatma Gandhi of India discovered it a few years ago, but most men and most women never discover it. For they believe in hitting for hitting; they believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth...
--Dr Martin Luther King Jr, who ensured that despite the cruel indignities inflicted on blacks in 1950s and 1960s America, the movement that he led was non-violent, clearly influenced by Gandhi's Ahimsa
The US Election: Complete Coverage
One of Barack Obama's acknowledgements to Dr King's legacy is the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi he has hung in his office in Washington, DC after he was elected to the US Senate.
As he told rediff.com last year, "In my life, I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration, because he embodies the kind of transformational change that can be made when ordinary people come together to do extraordinary things. That is why his portrait hangs in my Senate office: To remind me that real results will not just come from Washington -- they will come from the people."
Image: A scene from the election night celebration rally in Grant Park, Chicago. Photograph: Sail Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Exclusive: A chat with Obama's sister
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