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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | Mary C. Curtis

King never gave up his righteous fight, an example for all to follow

On Jan. 20, 2025, when Donald Trump took the oath of office as the 47th president of the United States, he was overshadowed by the memory of a man and a movement that shaped our country’s history and changed the world.

In Washington, D.C., there stands a granite statue of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose federal holiday this year, on the third Monday in January, coincided with Inauguration Day. It depicts an arms-crossed leader, resolute and determined, as though he realized the goal of equality and racial justice in America would require a never-ending fight.

Though the political world has moved on, as it tends to do with each incoming administration, former Vice President Kamala Harris has not forgotten King’s lessons. At last week’s National Action Network’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Legislative Breakfast, with members of the King family in attendance, she said: “Our definition of the win is the definition that takes us over a period of time, where part of how we measure the win is: Are we making progress? How we measure the win is based on the knowledge that it is an enduring fight and that we must be strong and that whatever the outcome of any particular moment, we can never be defeated.”

A holiday season of personal and political reflection

If my mother were alive, she would be disappointed at what her Republican Party has become. But not surprised. She had witnessed the GOP inching its way toward scapegoating some Americans to score political points with others in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, and thought the tactic, while canny and often effective, betrayed longtime African American Lincoln Republicans like herself.

To honor Dr. King, GOP should honor what he really believed in

It was fitting that as the world honored the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who would have turned 95 years old on the holiday commemorating his life and work, his daughter Bernice King set the record straight: “Many folks who use ‘woke’ with contempt today probably would have hated Daddy when he was alive,” she said. “He was very conscious and committed to eradicating what he called the ‘triple evils’ of racism, poverty and militarism. If you’re quoting him to stop truthful teaching about him…”

I wonder if anti-“woke” warrior Ron DeSantis’ ears were burning?

Bernice King has had to spend way too much of her time and energy correcting, scolding and rebuking not just the Florida governor and fading GOP presidential hopeful, but also all those who have never hesitated to co-opt King. And like her, I suspect even they know they would have been among the majority of white Americans who judged King a danger in 1968, the year he was assassinated at the age of 39.

It has become routine for many to lecture her about all the things her father would say or think were he alive today, which disrespects them both.

The real King is still deemed too dangerous for some who would ban books that honestly report the important American history

Tennessee’s House Divided: Days of public protest, open shouting from the Rotunda, and expulsions that broke on color lines

The Tennessee House, which has a Republican supermajority, voted last week on motions to expel three Democratic members for “disorderly behavior” after they led protest chants from the floor of the chamber.

Two Black lawmakers, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson—both in their late 20s and new to the House this session—were ousted. The motion to boot the other Rep. Gloria Johnson, who’s white, failed by one vote.

Guest: Melissa Brown, state politics reporter for The Tennessean.

MLK III: ‘Listen with your ears, hear with your heart’

Martin Luther King III joins Equal Time to talk with Mary C. Curtis about his father’s “I have a dream” speech, voting rights today and personal memories of his father. Fifty-eight years after his father’s iconic words, MLK III joins John Lewis’ family and others to galvanize the nation to, once again, ensure voting rights for all Americans.

Using Faith To Fight For The Poor

WCCB Charlotte Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis writes in Time Magazine about a North Carolina pastor who says “there is not some separation between Jesus and justice.” She talks about his fight for the poor as WCCB News Rising celebrates Black History Month.

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival hopes to draw thousands to WashingtonDC on June 20.

How Rev. William J. Barber II Uses His Faith to Fight for the Poor

For 27 years, the Rev. William J. Barber II has been the pastor at a church in the small city of Goldsboro, N.C. But on a recent afternoon, he could be found at a hotel in Raleigh, about an hour away from home. His work as an activist takes him to the state capital often enough that he’s well known there. Not long after, he’d move on to an event in Charleston, S.C., and then to Iowa, where he’d lead a march demanding a presidential debate on poverty.

Barber is ever in motion, and he’s still picking up momentum. He’s hardly stopped since he attracted national attention as the leader of the Moral Mondays protests held at the North Carolina capitol in Raleigh beginning in 2013. His newsmaking actions were founded on the idea that being a person of faith means fighting for justice—whether by working beside a conservative mayor to protest the closing of rural hospitals or by calling for an NAACP boycott of the state in response to the legislature’s actions, like its infamous “bathroom bill.”

POLITICAL WRAP: Presidential Candidates Attend “King Day at the Dome” in SC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On Monday, hundreds are expected to gather on the South Carolina State House steps for the annual “King Day at the Dome.”

Six of the remaining 12 democratic presidential candidates are expected to attend the event.

That includes Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who re-arranged his schedule to attend, after facing criticism for initially saying he would attend an MLK event in South BendIndiana instead.

The South Carolina event is seen as a “must-stop” for democratic presidential candidates, hoping to compete in the Palmetto State.

Does the ‘content of their character’ still matter in the 2020 race?

OPINION — “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” It might be the only quote by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that many Americans can recite by heart.

There is good reason for that, as political partisans have twisted a 1963 speech to suit their 2019 conservative agendas, despite the fact that those who now embrace him as one of their own would be horrified by King’s belief in extensive change in the system.

That quote can mean whatever you want it to, dressed up as approval of an American hero whose luster has only grown as his often revolutionary work fades into memory. That short snippet expresses a sentiment judged far more benign than others from that same speech, as when the Nobel Peace Prize winner said: “We’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.”

Opinion: Taking the Lessons of the Holy Season and MLK — but Not to Heart

Belief in the separation of church and state has turned out to be situational, depending on what issue you want the government to highlight or ignore — abortion rights or aid to the poor, criminal justice reform or same-sex marriage — and which faith you favor.

This is a time of year that challenges that not-so-bright line, no matter what side you fall on, when the occasional (or non) worshipper nevertheless is drawn by devotion, guilt or nostalgia to traditions that otherwise are pushed aside.

And the lessons of the season for those of any or no faith can be worthwhile.