The former Soviet president has worked with the legendary civil rights organization for years and will now expand his role to serve as international chair of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Nonviolence Conflict Initiative

What do Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Charles Steele and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev have in common?

As it turns out, both have a passion for social justice, equality, nonviolent conflict resolution and a deep-rooted admiration for Martin Luther King Jr., who was the co-founder and first president of the SCLC.

At a summit earlier this month celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, Gorbachev accepted the SCLC’s offer to serve as international chairman of the SCLC’s Nonviolence Conflict Initiative.

“It was April 4, 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. met with my chairman of the board, Dr. Bernard LaFayette, and (told him) now is the time to internationalize and institutionalize SCLC and the civil rights movement,” said Steele. “That was five hours prior to Dr. King being assassinated. So in my vision, and what I’ve gotten from my spiritual uplifting from God, is that we must fulfill that dream of Dr. King’s to internationalize and institutionalize the civil rights movement.”

The initiative, which Steele said was endorsed by all attendees at the summit, calls for peaceful conflict resolution, one of King’s defining principles, among other social-justice goals such as help for those living in poverty.

Steele was especially impressed by Gorbachev, a good friend, he said, who insisted that there should “‘never be another war, due to the fact that we live in one global village,’” repeating the 83 year old world leader’s words.

“We live in one global village and we should all find common ground and work together,” Steele added.

He lamented that Americans could sometimes be “selfish” with their privileges and rights. He insisted that the “SCLC and the civil rights movement were gifts from God. They don’t belong to any particular group or any particular country.

We must take this throughout the world, and that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

-Tamara El (@_SheWise_)