Overview: The article discusses the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and his advocacy for economic and social justice, as well as the importance of the right to vote. It argues that despite the progress made during King’s lifetime, the same hatred that motivated his assassination still exists today, and that the power of the ballot is crucial in the fight against racism and inequality. The article also highlights the importance of learning from history and the struggle for voting rights, and encourages people to watch a documentary on the subject.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!S. E. Williams
Each year on the third Monday in January, Americans—though not all-–pause and reflect. We do so to consider, celebrate and honor the life and works of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I sometimes wonder, however, if Americans have been lulled into a false sense of comfort in a carefully constructed and white-washed image of King by down-playing and or totally ignoring how he railed against the injustices of not only America’s racism, but also its economic exploitation of the working class and poor.
Yes, King practiced and preached non-violence. And yet, in many ways, he was also considered a radical as it relates to his criticism of the failures of capitalism, and the glaring need for economic and social justice. He railed against militarism as it related to the country’s gross military spending compared to its limited allocation to social programs and equal access to quality education, housing and healthcare. He advocated for safe working conditions and the need for a living wage.
And yet, nearly above all else, King recognized the transformative power embedded in the right to vote.
Sometimes when I think of King, it is humbling to recall he was only 26-years-old in December, 1955, when he led the Montgomery bus boycott that catapulted him to world prominence. And a short thirteen years later, at just 39-years-old, a bullet tore through his body and ended his life on April 4, 1968.
During the intervening years between 1955 and 1968, King led a movement that lifted a people, stirred the consciousness of a nation, and helped push this country in the direction of a more perfect union.
Fed up with the quality of Black life in America and inspired by a power greater than himself, King’s efforts resulted in meaningful legislation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1968 begrudgingly moved through Congress, though not without a fight, and both were signed into law.
That progress, however, came at a price. King himself admitted challenges of courage during this struggle. In one of his speeches King shared how one night after a caller threatened to blow his brains out and blow up his house (with his wife and children inside), exhausted and afraid, he fell to his knees and cried out in prayer, “I’m weak now. I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage.” In the moments that followed, Martin received insight and knew that he was on a path of righteousness. It gave him the courage to persevere.
And persevere he did. Homes and churches were bombed, Black people and their supporters were beaten, some were murdered, including King. Children were jailed and some were killed. And yet, like Martin, those in the movement found the courage, kept their “eyes on the prize” and persevered.
Through it all, King and his supporters understood the power of the franchise as a vehicle for political empowerment and social change. That is why the fight was so hard fought.
As we approach King’s birthday nearly 60 years after his assassination, the same hatred that haunted, hunted and murdered King, is now in near full control of the levers of power in America. One thing we know for sure, however, is that you can kill a man but you can’t kill a dream.
2026 is not only a mid-term election year, it is also the year we must find the courage needed to make a change. We must leverage the power of the ballot with the same level of intensity and commitment to voting rights and voting as those who dared step onto the Edmund Pettus Bridge that fateful Bloody Sunday in 1965, in their quest for the right to vote.
If we’ve learned nothing else from history is that although change is inevitable, change is not always easy. The one sure way to change course in America is through the ballot. This clearly explains why Republicans fight so hard to suppress voting rights.
Those of us old enough to remember the Civil Rights Movement remember the struggle for voting rights was not easy. It was a time when Black people, young and old, rich and poor, regardless of faith, joined hands in common cause, aided and supported by like-minded Americans of all races. That same coalition is called upon today.
Sankofa is a Ghanaian principle that literally translated, means “go back and fetch it”. In other words, it is important to know our history and take lessons from it to build a brighter and better future for our children. Obviously, racists consider this knowledge a threat and that is why they fought so hard from the beginning to keep Blacks from knowing their past and are fighting even more aggressively today to keep all American children from knowing it.
To that end, I encourage you this month in honor of King and the untold millions who sacrificed and suffered for generations in this country, to take 36 minutes to view the documentary, “Voting Rights: The Struggle To Be Counted 1619-2014”.
This documentary was produced in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 25, 2013, 5-4 decision in the Shelby vs Holder Voting Right case which struck down Sections 5 of the historic Voting Rights Act. The Shelby decision has led to the enactment of voter suppression laws that deny millions of citizens of color the right to vote to this very day. There is also a Supreme Court decision pending in the case Louisiana v. Callais that threatens to significantly impact Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act–the last bulwark of voting protections.
The documentary not only tells a story of the historic, courageous and often brutal struggle by African Americans to obtain the right to vote —through words, music, and images, it also begins with a pictorial tribute to Rep. John Lewis.
To change the course of our Black lives we must change the course of America. 2026 is calling us to the polls with that same force of passion, commitment and determination that propelled the Civil Rights Movement 60 years ago. We will never be free from the shackles of institutional and systemic racism until we free ourselves. This can and will only be accomplished by working and voting in solidarity with others who believe in the promise of a multicultural society rooted in equity, justice and equal opportunity. “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed,” King taught.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.