A competing vision of America’s future

Speaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in 1963, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. implored our nation to be better than it had been. “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy,” he told a crowd of thousands. “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.”

Though he was a towering figure in the history of the United States, for many people the lasting image of him is that of a speech he gave on the National Mall in 1963.

How far we’ve come on that path is an open question. Since that day, the nation elected and the reelected its first Black president. Many opportunities are available today that would have been difficult to imagine in King’s lifetime. But, as we mark on Monday the national holiday in his honor, there is no question we as a nation have much work ahead.

The vision we saw in the nation’s capital that day 58 years ago was one of striving toward the future with an eye toward justice and peace. No one would have denied the struggles ahead, but it was a search for a better America, a place where everyone could live the life America promised.

Contrast that with the scene on the same National Mall, albeit on the other end of it, just over a week ago. That, too, was a possible look at a future America, but one driven by grievances and disdain. Riled to a fever pitch by the president of the United States himself, the crowd proceeded to invade the U.S. Capitol at the moment when the ceremonial counting of electoral votes was taking place. Lawmakers and others had to be rushed to safety to avoid the deadly crowd.

And what was their ultimate goal? The people’s votes had long since been cast and counted. Disrupting their ceremonial tally would have accomplished nothing within the laws of this nation, but it doesn’t appear their goals were to abide by our laws. Many — maybe not all — of the Capitol rioters seemed intent on harming lawmakers and simply installing the outgoing president into another term in the White House.

It’s no exaggeration to say it was a near miss for the future of this country.

As we prepare for Inauguration Day on Wednesday, we are on the precipice between two competing visions of America. One is King’s, where our country continually strives to better itself, acknowledges our hardships and shortcomings but always puts faith in our ability to rise above. The other is one that would toss aside everything we hold dear for the sake of winning and keeping power.

It’s not always clear which path we will choose, to which end of the Mall we will journey. There is never a guarantee that America will get it right. All we can do is continue to strive, as King said that day, to “hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”

The vision we saw in the nation’s capital that day 58 years ago was one of striving toward the future with an eye toward justice and peace.