In the fall of 1995 , at age 39 , she joined Ilyasah Shabazz and Reena Evers in saluting their mothers as they chaired an attempt at registering one million African-American women to vote in the presidential election of 1996 . King joined the rest of her family in February 1997 , in supporting a retrial for James Earl Ray , the man convicted of her father 's murder , having realized that " without our direct involvement , the truth will never come out . " In an interview with People magazine in 1999 , she recalled when she first learned of her father 's death and stated that " to this day , her heart skips a beat every time she hear one of those special bulletins . " King appeared in the film Selma , Lord , Selma , based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches as Miss Bright . Prior to the film 's release , King expressed belief in children of the time only knowing " Martin Luther King Jr. was killed , but when it is time to talk about the facts and the history , there is not a lot of knowledge . They look at me when I 'm talking as if this is science fiction . " King attended and spoke at the Human Rights Campaign Detroit Gala Dinner of 2000 . In a twenty-four-minute-long speech , she brought up the presidential election of that year , and also quoted the words of Bobby Kennedy by recalling his line which he took from George Bernard Shaw , that of " Some men see things as they are and say why ? I dream things that never were and say why not ? " . During a presentation in May 2000 , King was asked if the human race would ever become " color blind " . In response , she pushed for " the goal " to be " color acceptance . " Following the September 11 attacks , King spoke in North Chicago in 2002 and related that her father 's wisdom during the crisis would have been of great aid to her . She mentioned the possibility that the event could have been a calling for Americans to put their loyalty towards " their race , tribe and nation " , as her father once said . She , her brother Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton sang We Shall Overcome in front of " The Sphere " , which stood atop the World Trade Center prior to the September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Yolanda King