This MLK III interview was not something I quietly prepared for in advance. Some conversations you prepare for, some you pray over, and some — if you are honest — you walk into with a quiet mix of excitement and terror that no amount of experience ever fully takes away. My conversation with Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King was all three.
It came together not long after I had sat down with their daughter Yolanda Renee King about her cotillion and her upcoming high school graduation. When the opportunity to interview the couple was pitched to me, I was genuinely happy. And then immediately my nerves kicked in. I have been doing this work for more than 20 years. I have interviewed politicians, physicians, activists, and everyday people whose stories deserved to be told. And yet something about sitting across from a family this historically significant gave me pause.
I have learned over the years that confidence is necessary in this work. But the moment you tip from confidence into arrogance, that is when things fall apart. I have seen it happen. I have felt it happen. So I went into this conversation prepared, humble, and genuinely curious about who these people actually are when the cameras are not rolling and the legacy is not front and center.
What I found confirmed something I have believed for my entire career — people are people.
They put their pants on one leg at a time. They have the same fears, the same longings, and the same quiet moments of doubt that the rest of us navigate — some just carry a little more weight than others. Martin Luther King III lost his father at ten years old. He told me in our conversation that he wished he could have asked his dad how to be a husband and how to be a father. He made mistakes he believes he would not have made if he had simply had someone to ask. That is not the son of a legend speaking. That is a man who figured it out the best way he could with what he had to become a good husband and a father.
And then there is Arndrea. I did not expect her to be who she is on camera. She is precise, grounded, and deeply funny. She showed up to their first date ready to deliver a carefully prepared speech — because Martin was 15 minutes late and she felt, in her words, like she was on a mission from God to let him know that this is not how you treat a woman. She did not care whose son he was. And then he walked in. She said within minutes she knew he was the most incredible man she had ever met.
I have been thinking about how their story relates to so many others I’ve had the privilege of hearing and writing about.
What This Story Teaches Us About Timing
What this MLK III interview taught me goes far beyond the story of one couple. Timing is one of the things we fight hardest in life. We decide when something should happen and what it should look like when it arrives. And when it does not show up on our schedule we feel passed over, dismissed, and disrespected. We prepare our speeches and we write things off. And sometimes what we wrote off was actually just on its way.
I have always had a fascination with listening to people who have had near death experiences. And many share how when they “popped out of their body” and were able to see what life really was all about they could see that many of the things they thought were terrible and needed to be fixed were there for a reason. They were carefully placed circumstances that led them to their next step and the next step and then the next. Nothing happened by accident. Everything is connected.
I did not receive the ceremony photos until after I had already edited and posted the episode. When they came through I will be honest — I got a little mushy. The image of Martin looking at Arndrea at the altar — that look — after hearing everything they had shared with me about how they got there — it hit differently than it would have if I had not spent that time with them first. Story does that to you. It changes what you see.
What This MLK III Interview Reminded Me
I thought about my parents when this MLK III interview was done. My father — Reverend Michael Miller — passed from prostate cancer and left behind hundreds of books and a belief that education, hard work, and faith in God were the keys to everything. My mother is gone now too after a long challenge with kidney disease living more than 10 years on dialysis. I thought about what they would have said if I had called them after this interview the way I used to call after a big story. They would have been proud. I know that.
But what I would have told them — what I always tried to tell them — is that the moments that look the most impressive from the outside are often just quiet confirmations on the inside. This is why I do this work. Not for the names but for the stories, and for the moment when someone trusts you enough to tell you the real thing.
For You — Wherever You Are Right Now
If you are in a season where the opportunity has not shown up when you thought it should, I want you to sit with Arndrea’s story for a moment. She was ready to walk out and she had her whole speech prepared. And the man who was late to their first date became her husband of 20 years. The thing that felt like a miss may just be the universe making room for what is actually meant for you. That is not a platitude. That is a woman who lived it — laughing about it two decades later surrounded by the people she loves most.
Watch the MLK III Interview Now
This MLK III interview — my full conversation with Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King — is available now on The Color Between the Lines on YouTube and iHeart Radio.
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Your story matters. — Esther Dillard