Walking King's path in an age of hollow echoes
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
I was fortunate to grow up in an era of towering moral figures, with Martin Luther King Jr. standing as the defining force in shaping my ethical compass and capacity for empathy. His assassination left a void in our world that I felt deeply and personally.
Today, as shadows lengthen across our democracy, I find myself returning to his wisdom. In these uncertain times, may King's unwavering spirit - his fierce hope tempered by clear-eyed realism - light our path forward through the gathering dark.
When I ask myself, what would Dr. King say about the new regime, I imagine he might lean back in his chair, remove his glasses with a weary smile, and offer something like this:
My dear Mr. President-elect,
I had a dream, but I must confess, what I'm seeing lately looks more like a rerun. You speak of unity while your words divide, of progress while we march in circles, of peace while stoking fires.
Remember what I said about the arc of moral universe bending toward justice? Well, it seems some folks have discovered gerrymandering that arc. They've learned to quote my 'content of character' line while carefully avoiding my words about poverty, militarism, and the necessity of radical economic transformation.
You cannot heal a nation by putting Band-Aids on bullet wounds. You cannot claim to walk my path while taking checks from those who would have funded Bull Connor's water hoses. The Poor People's campaign wasn't a GoFundMe, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott wasn't a Twitter hashtag.
So yes, by all means, quote me in your speeches. But remember - those same crowds who now cheer my name once called me an extremist. I wrote you a template for real change from a Birmingham jail cell, not a corporate boardroom.
With hope still persistent,
In the imagined voice of
Martin Luther King Jr.
P.S. - And please, for heaven's sake, stop using that one dream speech snippet out of context. I said quite a bit more that day, and every other day too.
Image ©2025 Gael MacLean
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