Today is Martin Luther King Day, a holiday that Coretta Scott King he worked tirelessly to succeed. A day to remember the life and legacy of a man who stood against the triple evil of racism, poverty and militarism. Today is also the day that Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, his second term. Today is a day of contradictions. And yet, this confrontation may be just what America needs to see itself more clearly. As the youngest daughter of Dr. King and CEO of the King Center, said Bernice King“This nation will face the stark contrast between my father, who stood for love and justice, and Trump, who has often sanctioned[ed] hatred and injustice”. What will we do when we come face to face with who we have become as a nation?
In the days leading up to the Inauguration, Trump’s allies hosted various pre-celebration events. Friday night was the busiest night as the Kentucky Bluegrass and Crypto balls; brought together celebrities, politicians and executives for their victory lap. The Bluegrass Ball, hosted the Kentucky Society of Washingtonseemed to be more familiar while Crypto Ball boasted one audience full of tech and cryptocurrency executives as well as performances by black male rappers including Snoop Dogg, Soulja Boy, Nelly and Rick Ross. Their presence caused instant outrage online and from black members of the media Don Lemon who called out the hypocrisy and greed of these performers, and especially Snoop Dogg who previously he had a lot to say about Kanye West and other black celebrities supporting Trump. During his commentary on the ball, Lemon highlighted tweets and social media posts wondering what has changed for Snoop Dogg besides a paycheck.
As some celebrated in the ivory halls of DC, thousands more descended on the city to express their disgust, anger and anxieties for the months and years to come. The People’s Marchas it was called, it was meant to be an effort at resistance, but the official mood reflected how tired and jaded people have become in the eight years since Trump first took office. In response to his first installation, millions made their voices heard not only in DC but also in sister marches across the country and even internationally. Now, with even more understanding of what to expect, people seem to have even less energy to deal with it.
Trump — with his dumb words and nonsensical policy proposals — has had progressives playing defense for nearly a decade. Now, we’re on the verge of another four years of responding to Trump’s absurdity. Social media platforms are transforming before our eyes with Mark Zuckerberg championing a return to “masculine energy” in tech (whatever that means) and Elon Musk is eroding diversity, equality and inclusion not just through Twitter/X but also to His intended position in the newly formed “Department of Government Effectiveness”. Toni Morrison talked about this and similar phenomena years ago: “The function, the very serious function of racism is to distract.” He continued, “it prevents you from doing your job. It makes you explain, over and over again, your reason for being.” The answer is not to get lost in the vicious circle or become too tired to fight back while developing our own proactive vision.
This nation will be faced with the stark contrast between my father, who stood for love and justice, and Trump, who has often endorsed hatred and injustice.
Bernice king via instagram
What would Dr. King have to say about a man like Trump being inaugurated into the highest office in the land and on a day dedicated to his legacy? Just look at King’s last Sunday sermon, delivered less than a week before his assassination and titled, “Staying awake through a great revolution.After a brief introduction, King cut to the chase: “One of the great liabilities of life is that too many people live in a great period of social change, and yet fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses, which it requires the new situation … a great revolution is taking place in the world today.”
This was not the first time King had given this speech, having shared the words at the opening of speeches at Morehouse and Oberlin Colleges, but when he repeated the words on March 31, 1968 there was an urgency in his voice. King spoke of “a triple revolution” of massive changes in technology, war, and human rights, and those words ring as true today as genocide, artificial intelligence, and widespread government abuses. King made it clear how he believed we humans should respond to moments like these: “No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone, and whoever feels that he can live alone is sleeping through a revolution ». During the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to tragedy, we collectively embraced mutual aid and radical community. But when those moments fade from public memory, we seem to be pushing it aside in favor of an “every man for himself” mentality through the over-privatization of what should be community resources. Even in the wake of this last election, many responded with tunnel vision and toxic self-preservation. It almost always comes back to bite us in the end.
We must, as King advised, not abandon the promise of a better tomorrow. Not the watered-down half-quotes that Republicans are likely to parrot today, but a future that works for the many and the marginalized.
baker for bread
Further in his speech, King advised that this nation and its people “need to see that the roots of racism are very deep in our country and there must be something positive and tremendous to get rid of all the effects of racism and the tragedies of racial injustice”. King spoke deeply the poor people’s campaigna mass movement for working-class Americans, and one that he was to lead in the months and years to come. He encouraged the audience before him to mobilize like never before to radically transform America into the great nation our leaders proclaim it to be. We haven’t seen that greatness spread evenly among all Americans, but that doesn’t mean we won’t one day leave this country better than we received it. We must, as King advised, not abandon the promise of a better tomorrow. Not the watered-down half-quotes that Republicans are likely to parrot today, but a future that works for the many and the marginalized. A better tomorrow that is only possible through the elimination of white supremacy.
In 1994, years after King’s death and a little more than a decade after Martin Luther King Day became official, Congressman John Lewis and Senator Harris Wofford worked together to make the day a federal holiday. on, not off. How can each of us live up to Dr. King’s ideals and work toward the beloved community he advocated for? What collective action can we be a part of to bring ourselves closer to a world free of white supremacy and patriarchy? What would it mean to overturn systems of oppression once and for all the way the Civil Rights Movement attacked segregation, Jim Crow, and the culture of fear? Now, we all need to ask the same questions and demand more from awareness.
Donald Trump — and the people he appoints to some of the most powerful positions in the country — have campaigned on hate and arrogance. Mass deportations. Fighting anti-LGBTQ fear. Disdain for this beautiful planet we call home, which is fading before our eyes. Today, on an Inauguration Day that inspires dread and an MLK Day established to inspire hope, we must ask ourselves something compelling: Who will we be tomorrow, and what will we do in response to Trump’s tyranny and this undeniable rise of fascism?
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