Today, we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., not as a sanitized quote machine, but as a revolutionary who made people uncomfortable in the name of justice. Dr. King didn’t just dream; he organized, he challenged power, and he paid for it with his life. In this climate, with voting rights attacked, books banned, and people still treated as “less than” because of who they are or who they love, Dr. King’s message isn’t history. It’s a to-do list. He reminded us that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and that silence in the face of wrong is not neutrality, it’s consent.
So today isn’t just about reposting a meme and moving on. It’s about asking ourselves: Where am I being called to be brave? Where am I being called to show up, even when it’s inconvenient? Dr. King talked about the beloved community, and that includes Black folks, LGBTQ+ folks, immigrants, the poor, the unseen, and the unheard. If your activism doesn’t make room for all of us, it’s not the dream, it’s a distortion of it. So today, we honor him not just with words, but with action, with courage, with compassion, and with the kind of love that tells the truth, even when the truth shakes the room.
