Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day across the nation. On Friday Colorado lawmakers paid tribute to the civil rights leader on the House and Senate floor.

Here’s the best of what some had to say.

Rep. Perry Buck,  R-Windsor:”Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. devoted his life to freedom, equality and civil rights. And he fought for these idea with dedication, devotion, and most importantly, a relentless theme of nonviolence and love, even in the face of fierce and sometimes in the face of physical, forceful opposition. Dr. King’s message is just as relevant today as it was in his lifetime.”

Rep. Jovan Melton, D-Aurora:”It will be this April that will mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death. And when I think about his death and I think about what we are facing today as a nation, it’s almost ironic, because there are attitudes and things coming back up that almost make it seem like his voice has died.”

Rep. Dominique Jackson, D-Aurora:”Dr. King showed us all how to transform hardship into hope, and adversity into action. His legacy is a lesson and an invitation to us to cherish our neighbors as they exist in their individual identities, while also building our shared identity to make our collective community stronger.”

Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton:”Dr. King’s love also resonated from the fact that we are human beings first and foremost,  that we are all from a creator who loves us and that we are brothers and sisters one to another. Dr. King preached supporting those institutions that help the human being, such as unions. Let us not forget how much he supported the unions. He preached not just about equality but equity among human beings, His teachings inspired the environmental movement.”

Rep. Jim Coleman, D-Denver:”He wasn’t MLK when it was convenient. He was MLK every day. He loved people every single day, regardless of what happened to him.”

Rep. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora:”Dr. Martin Luther King had so many amazing quotes, but one of my favorites is, “‘There comes a time when silence is betrayal.’ ‘There comes a time when silence is betrayal.’ You all remember my late husband, the honorable John W. Buckner, and one of his favorite phrases … ‘Call it what it is.’ If it’s racism, call it racism. Call it what it is.”

Rep. Tony Exum Sr., D-Colorado Springs:”‘The ultimate measure of a man or a woman is not where he or she stands in moments of comfort or convenience, but where he or she stands in times of challenge or controversy.’ That was from Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘Strength to Love.’ When we think about our kids and grandkids, the Bible teaches us about planting seeds of life, so when they need that seed of life when you’re not around to encourage them, they’ll make the right decisions.”

Rep. K.C. Becker, D-Boulder:The Montgomery bus boycott was about civil rights, but it was about women’s rights, as well. At that time, the back of the bus was a frequent place for rape and sexual assault in Southern states. Rosa Parks had been a sexual assault investigator for the NAACP and she saw the back of the bus as one of the most unsafe places for women of color, so she took the historic step she did, and Martin Luther King took the historic steps he did to protest the bus segregation by launching the Montgomery bus boycotts largely because he was standing in support of women’s rights and standing against sexual assault.”

Rep. Lori Saine, R-Dacono:”In 1964, Rev. King authored the letter from the Birmingham jail while he was being detained. In it he answered the criticism levied against him by pastoral peers within the Christian community who incredibly called his actions unwise and untimely. The Rev, King didn’t just hear the word. He applied the word. Rev. King knew it was no use to curse the darkness, for that is the language of darkness, and it sees no difference from itself.”

Rep. Jim Wilson, R-Salida:”I can say this with a complete, clear conscience, because I do not tweet, but I would ask you when you tweet about someone on the other side of the aisle, how many of those have been positive? I’m just saying. Was Dr. King perfect? No. Did human fallibility stop him from pursuing his dreams? No. Did the criticisms he received for being a human being and the mistakes he made for being a human being keep him from pursuing his dream? No. Do we honor him for his mistakes? No. We honor him for his mission, for his purpose.  I think it’s so critical at this time in our nation, because you’ve heard from this well with passion this morning about what’s wrong with our nation at this time in our state and more importantly, colleagues, at this time in our chamber – in this chamber – and our own personal lives, that we consider the totality of what Dr. Martin Luther King did and what he stood for.”

Rep. Paul Rosenthal, D-Denver:

“I think there’s a message we can also take with us today, to make sure we also recognize the great diversity of our country and how it is wonderful, and when we talk about one country and one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and hopefully we’ll always have justice for all.”

Rep. Cole Wist, R-Centennial:”After Charlottesville, I think we were all left in shock. We were left in dismay, and we were left with great sadness. My takeaway, as I joined the Speaker that day in calling out bigotry, racism in any form we see it in our country, I recalled the most important part of Dr. King’s speech for me, and that is him talking about children coming together. Let’s not forget that bigotry, racism and prejudice aren’t inherent, they’re taught, they’re learned. With each child we have the ability to correct that course.”

Rep. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora:”This year is different, because I think the need for all of us to recommit to the values of equality and compassion and nonviolence is greater than it’s ever been in my life, and I think in the lives of many of us in this chamber right now. In 1963 Dr. King said … ‘We refuse to believe the bank of justice is bankrupt.’ So I want us to stop and think for just a minute about the bank of justice, because when we are here, whether we realize it or not, are all custodians of that account.”

Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, D-Commerce City:”Arguably, someone could say, ‘Well, he deserved it,’ but when we still have to teach our young men to be careful, to watch what they say, to watch where they put their hands, we have to know racism is real. I was represented by Wilma Webb, by Wellington Webb, when they were in this House, and that fight has not gone away. It continues on.”

Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver:”Because of that march, America followed a path to greater fairness and equality. And,  yes, because they marched, I stand in front of you today elected to this state House as the first LGBT African-American to do so, and I stand with eight members of the Black Caucus, six in this chamber, the greatest number in the history of Colorado. I will never take for granted the efforts of those who came before me, those who marched, protested and spoke out against injustice.”

Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins:”Oh what we would give to have that man among us today. How we need him, how we love him. How we cherish every speech he has ever given. And those words will live on in all of us.”

Sen. Angela Williams, D-Denver:”Today we’re going to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, a man who fought for hope and healing in America. His legacy is one of courage, truth, dignity, humility and service. On his holiday we celebrate the values he was rooted in, values of love, forgiveness and nonviolence. Dr. King was a fearless leader, who worked tirelessly to bring change to America.”

Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver:”To think of how far we haven’t come in the 55 years since the  ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, to think of the inequality we have in our prison system and people being seen unjustifiably as a threat because of the color of their skin, perhaps even being shot, because of that. And so in reading his sentence, “Let’s all hope the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away,” it has not in any shape, manner or form.”

Sen. Mike Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs:”I think it’s obvious from the comments our president has made, and astoundingly those who have risen in defense of his comments, that we still have a long, long way to go. I think it’s obvious the dream Dr. King had still has not been fulfilled. That his comments that all men are created equal is not believed by all people in this country and most astoundingly by the leader of  our country.”

Sen. Larry Crowder, R-Alamosa:”I have the advantage of being old enough to remember a lot of what happened. And it’s always amazed me what brings a man like Dr. Martin Luther King to the forefront to do what he did, to put himself in harm’s way to put himself in a firestorm … It’s also impressive for me to come out of the first floor elevator and see Martin Luther King’s picture up there alone. I think it should always be a point of reflection for us all to see what our times produced, a great man, Martin Luther King, and what he has done.”

Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora:”We understand that his life was cut short. We also understand the sacrifice that he made. He spent far too much time away from his family in a pursuit of justice and fairness for all, so I’m very thankful for what he has done to usher us to where we are today.”

Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud:”He was a man who had great faith, and that faith gave him not only the courage to do what he did, but the confidence to understand that what he was doing was right.”

Sen. Daniel Kagan, D-Cherry Hills Village:”I take his message to be one of respect among us all, respect for each other regardless of the color of our skin but based on the content of our character. And I see so many failings in our attempt to live up to our aspirations of respect for all of us, regardless of our superficial characteristics. And as I look around the nation which I proudly call my own … and I see the way we treat others with disrespect, my heart bleeds, and it bleeds all the more when I think of the dream Dr. Martin Luther King expressed so eloquently on that day back in 1968.”

Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley:”I’m not always proud of the role law enforcement has taken through the years, through the Civil Rights March and the civil rights crusade. Law enforcement has a lot to be culpable for back then, and this was one of the times. He was in 29 times, I didn’t know that until today, so I’m not always proud of the profession. I hope we’ve made great strides in that area.”

Sen. Lois Court, D-Denver:”I came down here to say one thing. My new daughter-in-law’s family did not come from an s-hole country. Don’t anybody ever suggest that. She is a proud American. Her family are proud Americans. And anyone who will suggest that she and her family are not equal to the rest of us is nobody in my book. And I hope we remember that with every bill we consider.”

Sen. Matt Jones, D-Louisville:”When I first served down here I had the honor of sitting near Wilma Webb on the House floor, who really helped me as a freshman to learn this place, and we became good friends. She was telling me this story of how the holiday came to be in Colorado. In was 1984, and she was pushing this issue along with Gloria Tanner and in this house, Regis Groff, if I remember right … and Speaker (Bev) Bledsoe wanted to put it on the ballot, which was almost certainly to fail. So the bill came out of the House that it would go to the ballot,and it came to the Senate and they stripped that out. And then it went back to the House, and in a normal mode there is you would concur with the Senate, and somebody else would make a motion to send it to conference committee, where she would lose and it would go to the ballot. So she worked with Jerry Kopel, who was a wizard on the rules, and she went up and was recognized by Speaker Bledsoe … and she made a motion to adhere … and other legislators, fellas, said, ‘No, Wilma, that’s wrong,’ then she asked to be recognized and she made a motion to concur. And in the House you’ve got to vote on those motions in order, and then she made a motion to concur with Senate amendments, so that had to be the first vote. And they knew they had the votes for that. And because of the rules – her knowledge and Jerry’s knowledge of the rules – we have a Martin Luther King holiday today.”

Sen. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson:”Dr. King was clear about the moral things of life and was unashamed to testify to them and to God for whom he had believed that moral law comes. He was careful to do not only the right thing but to do it for the right reason, And he put the cause to which he had committed himself in the provincial hand of God.”

Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton:”I had the opportunity to grow up in the South – not the Deep South, Florida. Florida was a different world in the 1960s, the ’50s, even the 1970s, than it is now. But I also had the opportunity to work in the Deep South in 2006, 2007, 2008, the opportunity to work in Mississippi and Louisiana, to drive to work every day going down Medgar Evers Boulevard to go to my office at that time and to travel across the South. To say there was no change is not true. To say there is a long way to go is very true. But I was also reminded of that when I would travel back to Colorado and see what was going on in Colorado, so one thing I would recommend to all of us is we not put ourselves on a pedestal and instead follow the advice of Dr. King and make sure we’re reaching out to everyone.”

Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose:”I never got the opportunity growing up to have black friends. I lived in a small town in Western Colorado. We had lots of Hispanics. They were friends. They were no different than any of us. We were no better and we were no worse, but we were friends. Most of the people I went to school with I’m still friends with today. I have had their back for over 50 years, and they have had mine.”

Sen. Beth Martinez-Humenik, R-Thornton:”From my own experience, my father grew up in a small Southeastern town, and there was a disparity, and the railroad tracks divided that community. I’m glad to see that today in the 21st century that we are trying in our communities to make sure that every person is welcome, that any person can go and get a haircut at any barbershop and that every person can go and shop in the same stores. That has changed a great deal.”

Sen. Owen Hill, R-Colorado Springs:”As we honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I think it’s important that we not only re-dedicate ourself to this idea but continue to uphold it, as we’ve done today, this idea of justice and liberty, principles that he so clearly demonstrated, and may God continue to bless the work of our hands as we strive for his dream and his vision, and may it be ours as well.”