ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — Barack Obama’s inauguration marks a profound manifestation of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s dream, civil rights leaders say, but the movement would be foolish to drop its guard now.

Christine King Farris sits next to a photo of her brother as she reads to kids to commemorate his birthday Thursday.

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King did not fight tirelessly and ultimately give his life so African-Americans could take office; he fought for the disenfranchised and downtrodden, no matter their color, said Charles Steele, president and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King and Steele’s father helped found.

“President-elect Barack Obama is just a piece of the puzzle,” he said. “This tells us that we are at a station, but it’s not our destination. We’ve got to get back on the train.”

Steele said he worries that those who espouse King’s dream may grow lackadaisical because an African-American has taken the reins of the free world. But it is imperative, he said, that they “march now more than ever before.”

Steele points to 1963, when tens of thousands of protesters converged on Washington to demand equal rights. It was there King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech from the Lincoln Memorial steps.

President Kennedy’s administration was considered the most receptive ever to the concerns of the civil rights movement, Steele said. But rather than sit back and hope Kennedy did the right thing, King and thousands stormed Washington to lay out demands that later would yield the Civil Rights Act and National Voting Rights Act.

Those down for the cause today must do the same with Obama, Steele said.

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Photo: Terry Richardson/CPI Syndication

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