why we’re still waiting

vital reflection on MLK Day, in the face of familiar foes

In America, Black leaders and thinkers are often celebrated only after their lives expire. It typically takes a gruesome assassination or decades of public defamation before our heroes are granted flowers of praise and appreciation. Newer generations are usually too young to grasp the magnitude of lateness that this country delivers reparations with. The embarrassingly tardy, often muffled apologies that get delivered each time we lose a minister, brother, son, father and friend. Correction, each time that all of the above is forcefully taken from us by awfully brutal methods. 

If you need an example, just ask an elder what it was like to witness Ali dominate the ring in the 60’s and 70’s, while simultaneously fighting more significant battles outside of it. Death threats numbered in the thousands, perhaps millions, due to unwavering love and potent praise for his God. His beautiful and perpetual beliefs were components that compelled countless hateful people around the country to wish death and destruction upon him & his family. 

Ask an elder what it was like to listen to Malcolm speak in person. Those who remember how brilliant he was, those that can vividly recall the commanding tone in which he spoke. A tone that fearlessly echoed out into the world all the emotions internally felt by so many, but couldn’t find the correct verbiage to unleash during pivotal conversations. I’m sure they’ll inform you about the ferocious ways in which he fought, loved, and cared for Black people. Ask them where they were when they first heard the news that assassins had riddled his body with silver bullets on that depressing day in Harlem. How they violently stripped the life from his flesh in front of a devoted crowd of supporters that included his own wife and children. 

Ask your elders about Chairman Hampton, how captivating his presence was at such a young age. His brazen posture and how the successful battle for unity across a vast spectrum of marginalized groups came to be. The tactical ways in which he made the FBI and Chicago Police Department tremble due to the endless possibilities of coalition. The valor in which he campaigned for widespread unison before federal and local authoritative departments, in cahoots, drugged and murdered him in his sleep, putting an end to the very notion and further dismantling widely shared dreams between some of our greatest fallen soldiers. 

The most polarizing of them all is undoubtedly Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthdate is the only federal holiday designated by Congress as a National Day of Service. While organic acts of kindness and assistance should always be encouraged around the clock, it’s more vital now than ever that we pay close attention to the modern challenges hindering progress toward racial justice, equality and equity. Today, Black and brown people face frighteningly familiar foes, similar to the antagonists that Dr. King, Chairman Hampton, Malcolm and Muhammad all valiantly fought against.  

There’s a raging war against diversity, equity, and inclusion. Last year, legislation banning DEI initiatives was signed into law in the states of Texas, Florida, North Dakota, North Carolina, and Tennessee. There’s also a war on books about racism, racial justice, and oppression. According to PEN America, there were 3,362 book bans that affected 1,557 unique titles in the 2022-2023 school year, with more than 40% of the bans occurring in Florida. Even the principal practice of educating young children about significant figures in the battle for Civil Rights is being threatened. 

Throughout this week you’ll find glorious posts, quotes, and comments celebrating Dr. King’s life and legacy. He would have celebrated his 95th birthday on Monday. It’s been nearly 56 years since his assassin, akin to the killers of Malcolm and Chairman Hampton, chose a silver bullet as his method to loot the life from one of our greatest and most beloved leaders down in Memphis, Tennessee. Reading both those numbers, one’s perspective plays a crucial role in the apprehension of how recent the origins of the Civil Rights battle against injustice and inequality really was. For me, those numbers shed light on how much work we have ahead of us. My conscience can’t escape the fact that many ideologies which were shared and protected by Dr. King, are being ambushed today.

These attacks aren’t new. Dr. King’s legacy has always been broadly criticized, especially during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. If you take time to analyze his life and legacy, this widespread popularity we know and acknowledge today has only settled fairly recently. During the early 1980’s, 15 years following his death, 22 senators voted against an official holiday honoring him in January. The same federal holiday we’re celebrating now. This was in 1983. My mother was only ten years of age at the time. Today, she’s fifty.  

Eventually, then-President Ronald Reagan reluctantly signed the legislation to solidify the holiday, practically displaying an adult-like-tantrum because of his preference for “a day similar to Lincoln’s birthday, which is not technically a national holiday”.

One of the many parts that are often misinterpreted about Dr. King is that he was this motion picture Disney-like character who only mustered Christian teachings and Gandhian tactics, and had a fairytale dream that “one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.”

Many people are unaware that aside from these components, which do hold truths in their own light, he represented so much more. Dr. King was a radical and relentless fighter for equality, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, and anti-poverty. This is in immense contrast to the portrait of the late great minister that’s been painted for newer generations. A portrait that I believe has been strategically fabricated in order to fit an agenda designed decades ago by political disruptors who continue to haunt us today. 

Recognizing the shadows of our present-day foes can play a major role in the extension of comprehension. In the 1960s according to numerous polls, 63% of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of Dr. King. If you compare this to the 55% of respondents who participated in a poll last year regarding whether or not King’s birthday should be a federal holiday, nearly 40% of Republicans voted against it. This should inform you that he wasn’t always widely loved, and still isn’t. Contrary to the public motives that many businesses, organizations, universities and individuals place on display.

While many conclusions can be drawn from these numbers, America knows all too well that honoring someone with a holiday doesn’t guarantee universal favor. Many places in the US still celebrate Columbus Day, while plenty of others instead acknowledge the holiday as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In the case of Dr. King and his posthumous popularity, listening to a handful of selected quotes that get cited and recycled across social media platforms can only do so much. We’ve already witnessed the results of lazy activism time after time. 

The dauntless leaders that’ve been taken from us have only been gone for a few decades. While it’s important to celebrate them in their physical absences, let us truly honor them by committing constructive actions that would’ve been encouraged back when their lungs were filled with oxygen, and stern faith loaded their hearts. Faith that one day, the dreams they envisioned and sacrificed their lives for, came to fruition for all generations to come.