LET’S CONTINUE KING’S WORK
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, murdered by a White supremacist. Through nonviolent tactics, King fought a society and government content to maintain White supremacist values, systems, policies and practices. Too often when our nation celebrates and honors King’s legacy, it is a whitewashed version of reality that ignores the crimes of our country’s past and the active role it played and continues to play in suppressing racial justice. We look on at the contemporary expressions of the continuation of White supremacy and greet it as a stranger. The anti-democracy Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and the ongoing systematic attacks on voting rights in this country are pressing reminders that King’s work is unfinished.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are two crowning achievements of King and the civil rights movement. While communities of color and other marginalized groups have seen progress since their passage, we all know that our lives have yet to meet their promise, and are far from the dream King spoke of.
How do we get there?
We can begin with honesty about our nation’s past and present. Our education system tells a glorified fiction of American exceptionalism, teaching generations of young people fairy tales as though they were facts. It needs reform to include authentic and diverse history and literature. Regionally we’ve seen attacks on our education system and its leadership — only starting with critical race theory — by White supremacist ideologues. Let’s not pretend it was anything less.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, billionaires increased their wealth while everyday Americans lost their lives and jobs. Impacts are felt hardest by the most marginalized. Economic justice requires our attention. Wiping out $50,000 of student loan debt would increase the wealth of Black Americans by 40 percent. Reparations are still in order. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) measures being implemented in our places of employment must assess the disaggregated data to ensure equity in the boardrooms and C-suite, not just the employer as a whole. If your DEI strategy isn’t looking at sexual orientation and gender identity, then you are not doing DEI work.
Cellphone video and the insurrection have offered proof White supremacists are in too many positions of power, sworn to enforce the law, provide medical care, govern and employ people. If you do not fundamentally believe that all people should be treated equally, then the care and service of people should not be entrusted to you through employment.
Efforts to restore and expand upon King’s work — like Congress’ moves to pause the racist filibuster and pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — leave me hopeful that we can save American democracy. I hope that Congress will make the same consideration to pass the Equality Act, amending the Civil Rights Act to finally provide equal legal footing for LGBTQ Americans. As I reflect on the legacy of King and the civil rights movement, I am grateful for their work and know we all must engage in bending the moral arc towards justice.