What Would Dr. King Say?

There’s a great silence right now in this country.  Yes, there are protests in Minneapolis and skirmishes elsewhere, but for the most part, silence seems to be the order of the day.

University presidents seem to have gone into hiding.

The U.S. Catholic bishops aren’t saying much.  Neither are leaders of other faiths.  Sure, there are some very courageous priests, ministers and rabbis who are standing up to the oppressive presence of ICE in their cities and even in their churches.  But their voices are not amplified by their leadership.

The other day the president of the Unite States said in an interview with the New York Times that White people have been “very badly treated” by the great Civil Rights legislation of the 1960’s and subsequent years.  The silence surrounding this preposterous statement suggests that either many people agree with him, or too many people are too scared right now to say anything.

I find myself wondering, “What would Dr. King say?”  We observe his birthday this week — in some places, however, the observances are cancelled in deference to the “anti-DEI” mandates coming from the president, governors and state legislatures.  Nobody seems to be objecting, at least not out loud.

What would Martin Luther King say, what would he do?  I have no doubt that he would confront the corruption of this moment, the ugly stirring of racial hatred that the current regime is encouraging.  But Dr. King would not shout, would not take up arms or encourage violence.  He would use his steady voice and moral courage to stare down the storm troopers marching in their militia garb and the politicians who have mocked and undermined the advances of half a century.  He would galvanize us to get off our couches, put down our phones and stand up for the justice that must come to all or there will be no justice for anyone.

He would remind us that this struggle is not about one color or another, but about human life and dignity.  He would would preach to a congregation that is so bereft we can hardly remember how to shout, “Amen!” but he will urge us and goad us and demand that we find our voices again.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is long gone.

So are Thurgood Marshall, John Lewis, Rosa Parks, and so many other icons of the struggle for civil rights in this nation.

Where are the great civil rights leaders of this age?  The best tribute we can pay to Dr. King on his birthday is to raise up new leadership to take up the never-ending cause of racial justice in a nation that too easily forgets the evils of the past.

The president’s words about white people suffering because of the Civil Rights movement are outrageous.  It is utterly reprehensible for the leader of this nation to be stoking racial divisions and hatred, disparaging the hard and righteous work of his predecessors and generations of Americans who sacrificed much to achieve some level of racial justice in this nation.  His ideological attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion are all about white supremacy.  The claims of his supporters that DEI efforts are illegal are not grounded in any law but in the politics of hatred and division.  The damage that this moment is doing to our nation will take years to repair, if ever.

We teachers, educators, leaders of academic institutions cannot just stand by as observers — or, worse, adopt the cowardly idea of “neutrality” to avoid taking a moral stance on the rising evil of this moment in our history.  We must speak out on behalf of our students, our faculties, our neighbors and communities.  Everyone has a right to live, to live well and with hope, justice and peace.  But right now, too many are living in fear, and even in grave danger because of who they are.  Some have already lost their freedom and even their lives in  the maw of abusive exercises of raw power.  This madness must stop — we who have voices and bully pulpits must speak for those who cannot.

This nation was founded with an ideal vision of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  Those are not gifts bestowed by a benevolent ruler — those are rights earned by the hard work of people coming together to build true communities of justice and peace.

Let’s remember the courage of Dr. King, resolving that the struggle he led is now our own cause to continue to make the future of this country more peaceful and prosperous for all people.