SALT LAKE CITY?The son of Alex Haley, author of “Roots: The Saga of An American Family,” says it is important to keep the work’s legacy alive.

William Haley, in Salt Lake City this week to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances, said, “Roots gave us a thirst for figuring out who we are, not only about ourselves but about others,” said Haley, president of the Maryland-based Alex Haley Center.

Haley said racism has become like a virus, mutating itself into something less transparent but still debilitating.

Specifically, racial disparities can be found in the American health care, education and criminal justice systems, he said.