Is today really MLK Day?

Photo by Mark Stebnicki

Today is MLK Day, but every year, I feel like something is missing.

Every year we are reminded of our slow and steady progress against the evils of racism.

• The end of slavery

• The end of segregation

• The election of a black leader. 

But the thing about racism is when you look closer…

There’s always another evil. Another layer of depravity and hate. Another wall to tear down, Another fire to put out.

The “long moral arc of the universe” that Dr. King talked about has been handcuffed to the weight (wait) of tomorrow.

That vain and hollow “Someday” we talk about in our speeches and in our churches.

We allow our suffering to be satisfied with bandaids and booboo kisses when we need stitches, antibiotics, and physical therapy.

When today rolls around each year, I don’t look forward to your “Day of Service” invitations and events.

I don’t want to participate in your neighborhood cleanups. 

I want neighborhoods that are already clean because every home is owned by a family that loves their community.

I don’t want to volunteer at your food basket giveaway. 

I want to know why the same grocer that sponsors the event refuses to build a store within walking distance of the people most in need!

And as excellent as the organizations they fund are: I don’t want to run in your races for reconciliation.

I want to be frontline in the fight for the reconciliation of the races.

I don’t want to sit on the laurels of history and progress that was made 100, 50, or even 10 years ago.

I want to make a NEW history and new progress.

Laurels are weeds that seem green but choke out change.

In our garden of peace, we have only ONE viable crop.

We have tenuous hope.

It’s fragile, it’s easily drowned and quick to burn in the sun.

Sometimes its stems are battered, and its leaves are bruised.

But its roots are iron.

Its seeds are like diamonds.

As long as we nurture it, hope WILL NOT DIE.

So what should we do on MLK Day? How should we honor his legacy?

I don’t have the perfect answer to this question. But I know the answer we’ve come up with is falling short.

I think the baseline is keeping ourselves and our leaders at every level accountable.

Don’t just call out the corporations and structures and people that deny progress and defy justice.

We have to apply pressure on lawmakers and business leaders to do the right thing, or they simply won’t do it.

WE have to stay uncomfortable with the state of things. And we can’t let those who are asleep or dead to what’s going on around us be comfortable either.

We cannot compromise with evil.

We can’t give up any ground on these issues.

But at the same time, there is NO us vs them. Only all of us are against injustice.

And I look at everything Dr.King talked about in the months before his assassination:

• Ending Poverty

• Ending Homelessness

• The redistribution of wealth

• Reconciliation of not just the races but of the rich and the poor, to create a just and equal society for all.

And I ask myself again,

And I ask you this again:

Is this really MLK Day?

I’ll let you decide.