--freeing america-- three decades after martin luther king, jr was gunned down on a motel balcony in memphis, tenn., he is still regarded mainly as the black leader or a movement for black quality. that assessment, while accurate, is far too restrictive. for all king did to free blacks from the yoke of segregation, whites may owe him the greatest debt, for liberating them from the burden of america's centuries-old  hypocrisy about race, it is only because of king and the movement that he led that the u.s. can claim to be the leader of the "free world" without inviting smirks of disdain and disbelief. had he and the blacks and whites who marched beside him failed, vast regions of the u.s . would have remained morally  in distinguishable from south africa under apartheid, with terrible consequences for america's standing among nations of the world. even after the supreme court struck down school segregation in 1954, what the world mow calls human-rights offenses were both law and custom in much of america . before king and his movement, a six-year-old black girl like ruby bridges could be hectored and spit on by a white new orleans mob simply because she wanted to go  to the same school as white children. even highly educated blacks were routinely denied the right to vote  or use whites-only rest rooms; they cold not buy or lent a home wherever they chose. the movement that king led swept all that away. he was a preacher who spoke in biblical cadences ideally suited to leading a stride toward freedom that found its inspiration in  the old testament story of the israelites and the new testament gospel of jesus christ. moreover, king was a man of extraordinary physical courage whose belief in nonviolence never swerved. from the time in 1955when he assumed leadership of the montgomery, ala., bus boycott to his murder 13years later, he faced hundreds of death threats. in recent years, king's most quoted line-i have a dream that my four little children will one dat live in a nation where they will not be judged by  the color of their skin but by the content of their character" -has become a slogan for opponents of affirmative action, designed to level the playing field for minorities and women. such would -be kidnappers of king's legacy have filtered out his radicalism and sense of urgency . that most famous speech was studded with demands. " we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check," king admonished. " when the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the constitution and the declaration of independence , the were signing a promissory note to which every american was to fall heir," king said. " instead of honoring this sacred obligation, anerica has given the negro people a bad check marked 'insufficient funds." these were the stinging phrases of a prophet, aa man demanding justice mot just in the hereafter, but in the here and now.