Martin Luther King Jr. is a name we all know. In fact, it’s a name we know well.
Every year around Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 16), we read his letter from the Birmingham Jail, watch his “I Had A Dream” speech and hear his quotes such as “darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Yet we rarely hear his quotes like, “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
Last year, the hashtag #ReclaimMLK took Twitter by storm, and for good reason.
The group that started the hashtag, called “The Movement for Black Lives”, stated on their website: “This (Martin Luther King’s) movement was built on a bold vision that was radical, principled and uncompromising. And MLK’s vision was one of a movement made of many parts that could be more aligned, more radical and more visionary. Unfortunately, Dr. King’s legacy has been clouded by efforts to soften, sanitize, and commercialize it. Impulses to remove Dr. King from the complex and radical movement that elevated him must end. We resist efforts to reduce a long history marred with the blood of countless people into iconic images of men in suits behind pulpits.”
It is important that we remember Dr. King as his true, radical self and not idealize him as someone who would not continue to fight for Black rights today if he were still alive.
It is not enough to simply remember Martin Luther King once a year. We must honor him by picking up the baton he left when he was killed. We must continue to fight for the freedom and equality of our Black brothers and sisters.
This Martin Luther King Day, Denver will host its annual MLK Marade, which is a mixture of a march and a parade. In celebration of the activist’s life, thousands of people will march down Colfax from City Park to the State Capitol. This march is not only to celebrate Dr. King’s life, but also to bring attention to the issues Black Americans still face today.
We march for racial equality. We march because Black Americans are incarcerated at a rate six times higher than that of whites. We march because Black children are four times more likely to be suspended from school than White children.
We march because we don’t want to see another of our Black brother or sister’s names become a hashtag because their life was lost at the hands of a police officer. We march because, as Dr. King said him, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” March with us.
