Does Martin Luther King Day have relevance with the youth today?

Yesterday was Martin Luther King's birthday. While mentoring students at a local high school, I showed the documentary The Witness. This documentary was based on the perspective and knowledge of Reverend William Kyles, the only person on the balcony that famous day in Memphis. A bit shocking was the lack of relevance Martin Luther King had with these African American ninth grade students. As the movie started the young men were not interested as a group. I judged this by the amount of chatter, heads going down and doodling with other things. So I starting asking my self the question, is MLK relevant and do kids only view his life as a day off of school.  Five minutes into The Witness, there was a shift in the interest of my mentees.  I observe boys moving their seats closer to the screen, intensely focused and impacted by what they were watching.  Could my assumption be wrong, do young people have an appreciation for the recent history?

Shortly after the movie anded with the grand finish. You can kill the Dreamer, but you can not, can not kill the Dream. These same young boys who had no connection with MLK and his life, quacked blurted out questions about MLk and that time in our country,  many made associations to changes that have come about and things that have not changed.

I am still not sure if I have a strong position one way or the other.  Is Martin Luther King relevant to kids today?