Continue King’s legacy every day
When we think of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., we think of peace, justice, and a diligent push for the rights of every American to have an equal chance at a better life.
That legacy ought to be remembered, commemorated, defended, protected, and striven for every day of every year, not just when we celebrate MLK Jr. Day every January.
In Alpena, a group called MLK Beloved Community of Northeast Michigan on Monday hosted a number of activities — crafts and storytime for children, an art project for all ages, several presentations, and a chili supper with proceeds to Loads of Love, a project that provides free laundromat service for those in need — to honor King and his work and to encourage Northeast Michiganders to follow in his footsteps.
“We may think we know the story, but the real question for us tonight is, ‘What do we do now?'” Alpena Community College political science professor Tim Kuehnlein asked participants in one of Monday’s discussions, according to a report by News Lifestyles Editor Darby Hinkley. “And, ‘Where do we go from here?’ What can we do as individuals, in this current environment, to keep the story alive and make a difference?”
We couldn’t agree more.
King and his supporters knew it took on-the-ground people to make a difference in society, to challenge those who would hold people back, to push allies into action, to hold those with power accountable to their promises.
And that’s no different today.
It takes all of us collectively pushing for change to continue to better the society we’ve created, to make King’s dream a reality.
So we urge every reader to study King and his work and to find ways big and small to try to push for his legacy every day.
Write legislators. Vote. Stand up for the downtrodden. Judge your neighbor by their actions, not their backgrounds or where they were born or the color of their skin or anything else but whether they stand for what is right. Speak up when you see injustice.
And do that consistently.