The third Monday of January marks the celebration of the federal holiday honoring the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., born on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Across the nation, many schools and community organizations will be engaged in events for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
I have no issue with people engaging in community service and have written about it, while reminding readers:
We continue to face police brutality, economic injustice, and an horrific criminal justice system—which is why we need to not only do service, but also take action, like joining demonstrations like #blacklivesmatter, or showing up for and supporting movements like Moral Mondays ...
What is troubling me is that what young people are being taught about Dr. King and the civil rights movement is now boiled down to an enhanced program of social work, removed from the very active resistance to racism and injustice that the civil rights movement addressed and continues to confront.
As long as we refer to the civil rights movement as history and not as an ongoing struggle, we defeat ourselves. Now that we are facing not only Trump in the White House but also his minions in key positions and a Republican-controlled House and Senate (and many state legislatures as well), we must honor the efforts of those activists past—with actions in the present.
Let us not forget that along with thousands of other activists, Dr. King marched, protested, suffered beatings and jailings—and yes, death—in the battles to bring liberty and justice to all of our citizens.
We are hearing words of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and ableism from elected officials in Congress and state houses, and from the soon-to-be occupant of the White House.
We do not honor a man whose life was taken by racist assassin James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968, by simply doing community service.
We do not honor Dr. King by turning him into a one-dimensional saint while disregarding his actions and the actions of people who were a part of a movement that continues today.
Some of us are old enough to remember quite clearly the events leading up to Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.
Bloody Sunday was part of a past that is linked inextricably to our present. We continue to face racism, injustice, and economic inequality. There are those who would attempt to turn back time and undo the steps taken to move us forward on the path to equality.
There are those who use Dr. King’s words (out of context) to diminish and deny the foundational systemic racism still in evidence in our nation by quoting his “content of character” remarks to promote “colorblindness.” We hear the same remarks applied to Barack Obama’s election to justify bullshit “post-racial America” plaints.
Let us not forget that much of the battle for civil rights has been centered in the battle for voting rights.
In his “Give Us the Ballot” speech, King demanded those rights on May 17, 1957 at the Lincoln Memorial, eight years before the enactment of the Voting Rights Act:
Three years ago the Supreme Court of this nation rendered in simple, eloquent and unequivocal language a decision which will long be stenciled on the mental sheets of succeeding generations. For all men of good will, this May 17 decision came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of segregation. It came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of distinguished people throughout the world who had dared only to dream of freedom. It came as a legal and sociological deathblow to the old Plessy doctrine of "separate-but-equal." It came as a reaffirmation of the good old American doctrine of freedom and equality for all people.
Unfortunately, this noble and sublime decision has not gone without opposition. This opposition has often risen to ominous proportions. Many states have risen up in open defiance. The legislative halls of the South ring loud with such words as "interposition" and "nullification." Methods of defiance range from crippling economic reprisals to the tragic reign of violence and terror. All of these forces have conjoined to make for massive resistance.
But, even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters. The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic traditions and its is democracy turned upside down.
So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind — it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact — I can only submit to the edict of others.
So our most urgent request to the president of the United States and every member of Congress is to give us the right to vote.
In that same speech he criticized both Democrats and Republicans—white southerners and white northern liberals.
First, there is need for strong, aggressive leadership from the federal government. So far, only the judicial branch of the government has evinced this quality of leadership. If the executive and legislative branches of the government were as concerned about the protection of our citizenship rights as the federal courts have been, then the transition from a segregated to an integrated society would be infinitely smoother. But we so often look to Washington in vain for this concern. In the midst of the tragic breakdown of law and order, the executive branch of the government is all too silent and apathetic. In the midst of the desperate need for civil rights legislation, the legislative branch of the government is all too stagnant and hypocritical.
This dearth of positive leadership from the federal government is not confined to one particular political party. Both political parties have betrayed the cause of justice. (Oh yes) The Democrats have betrayed it by capitulating to the prejudices and undemocratic practices of the southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed it by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of right wing, reactionary northerners. These men so often have a high blood pressure of words and an anemia of deeds. [laughter]
In the midst of these prevailing conditions, we come to Washington today pleading with the president and members of Congress to provide a strong, moral, and courageous leadership for a situation that cannot permanently be evaded. We come humbly to say to the men in the forefront of our government that the civil rights issue is not an ephemeral, evanescent domestic issue that can be kicked about by reactionary guardians of the status quo; it is rather an eternal moral issue which may well determine the destiny of our nation (Yeah) in the ideological struggle with communism. The hour is late. The clock of destiny is ticking out. We must act now, before it is too late.
A second area in which there is need for strong leadership is from the white northern liberals. There is a dire need today for a liberalism which is truly liberal. What we are witnessing today in so many northern communities is a sort of quasi-liberalism which is based on the principle of looking sympathetically at all sides. It is a liberalism so bent on seeing all sides, that it fails to become committed to either side. It is a liberalism that is so objectively analytical that it is not subjectively committed. It is a liberalism which is neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. (All right) We call for a liberalism from the North which will be thoroughly committed to the ideal of racial justice and will not be deterred by the propaganda and subtle words of those who say: “Slow up for a while; you’re pushing too fast.”
A third source that we must look to for strong leadership is from the moderates of the white South. It is unfortunate that at this time the leadership of the white South stems from the close-minded reactionaries. These persons gain prominence and power by the dissemination of false ideas and by deliberately appealing to the deepest hate responses within the human mind. It is my firm belief that this close-minded, reactionary, recalcitrant group constitutes a numerical minority. There are in the white South more open-minded moderates than appears on the surface. These persons are silent today because of fear of social, political and economic reprisals. God grant that the white moderates of the South will rise up courageously, without fear, and take up the leadership in this tense period of transition.
Delivered 60 years ago, that speech on voting rights is even more relevant today. As we watch the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, Republican gerrymandering, and new voting rights restrictions being put into place across the nation, we need to heed the call for resistance.
King called for a “moral resistance.” That resistance is alive, well, and fighting back as a living legacy in groups like the Moral Mondays Movement in North Carolina, spearheaded by the Rev. Dr. William Barber.
Members of the Daily Kos community in North Carolina have heeded the call and are fighting back and getting arrested. Many will be joining the upcoming Feb. 11 March on Raleigh.
Jan. 21 will see the streets of Washington D.C. flooded by participants in the Women’s March on Washington, and many sister marches are scheduled across the country. Black Lives Matter and many student groups are planning nationwide school walkouts on Jan. 20—Inauguration Day.
What are your plans to resist and fight back? What events and actions are taking place in your area?