Who was more important to giving African Americans greater equality in our society: President Lyndon Johnson or spiritual leader and activist Martin Luther King, Jr?

This great question was recently stirred up by a off-the-cuff remark by Hillary Clinton, who hopes to be the first women president of our great country.

Dr King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It took a president to get it done.

It would be a mistake to say either President Johnson or Martin Luther King did not have a significant impact on civil rights in our country. Yet, their roles where distinctively different. Martin Luther King was a political activist who lead a movement that brought the plight of many African Americans to our collective conscience. President Johnson was the leader who personally shepherded many pieces of civil rights legislation through both houses of Congress and signed them into law.

It is easy to look down either person as insignificant or misunderstand their complementary role in social change. Political activism or the art of building awareness is often messy and set against a backdrop of resistance by the establishment. Protests, marches, gatherings, and public statements are often viewed as a challenge to order, a messy process required by the first amendment of our constitution. But, such activism is essential to change.

Political leaders will not change their minds about the issues of the day, unless there is public pressure to change. That’s the role of activists like the late Martin Luther King. If it was not for the marches and rallies, it’s unlikely that racial equality would have ever even gotten on the agenda in the sixties. Freedom Summer would have been like every other summer had activists not been on buses trying to get equality for blacks.

The many Civil Rights Acts of the late fifties and sixties would not have had happened with the leadership of President Johnson. He could have vetoed this important legislation or not pushed for it as hard as he did. The acts of Martin Luther King and his fellow protesters might have fallen on deaf ears in Congress, if it where not for such an outstanding politician pushing for this legislation and working various factions into unity on the issue of Civil Rights.

It is true that part of Martin Luther King’s dream was realized by the passage of the Civil Right Acts pushed by a white southern politician. This part of his dream might not have been realized otherwise. Yet, this was no fault of Martin Luther King, but represents the unique role that a politician has in relation to activists. President Johnson may have never signed the bill if it wasn’t for racial activism awaking our conscience.

Political activism is all about being principled and awaking the great American conscience. Activists never have to compromise, they just have to push for awareness and change. In contrast, politicians by definition have to compromise and work through our democratic system to get good ideas made into widely accepted law. Politicians make policies happen, but they are only enabled to do so through the awareness generated by the hard work of political activists.