This year the federally observed holiday to recognize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement will coincide with the inauguration of this country’s new president. Both will occur on January 20. I will not be honoring Dr. King and our Civil Rights Movement on January 20. Instead, I will be recognizing this important legacy on Dr. King’s actual birthday: January 15.

I write this 62 years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and 57 years after the Poor People’s March on Washington addressing economic inequality and poverty. I write from the neighborhood of Kensington, where I live and work, the poorest neighborhood in the poorest big city in the country and the center of the opioid epidemic, where the streets are literally covered with Black and Brown people missing limbs from the effect of the drug crisis, laying in the street unconscious after falling from their wheelchairs. From the center of a crisis that has seen a 40 percent increase in fatal overdoses amongst Black residents and 7 percent decrease amongst Whites, all in a community that is bearing the brunt of an escalating public health crisis of increased HIV infections and other communicable diseases as we continue to put politics and profits over people.

I still believe in not a dream, but in actions that lead to a change in approaches, which in turn returns our humanity and our concern for the most vulnerable rather than celebrating those that subjugate them.

I recognize that many have moved on from the very recent history of the Civil Rights Movement and are no longer aware of the significance of this recent past. I also recognize that there are those that have intentionally minimized our struggle and reduced it to a concept of “wokeness” and are doing everything within their power to eliminate any and all of the gains that were achieved during that era.

I am old enough to be the son of a man from Macon, Georgia, who after serving in the Air Force, was one of the students and young people in the 50s on the frontline of the Civil Rights Movement, putting their bodies on the line in marches and at lunch counters. I am the son of a mother and father who have dedicated their lives to social justice and human rights and who recognize, as Frederick Douglass said, “There is no progress without struggle.”

I am old enough to have grown up in a church that still printed MLK’s picture on its hand fans; had children recite speeches of Martin and Malcolm; and proudly shared the names and accomplishments of great Black leaders of days past. I am old enough to remember when not only MLK Day was signed into law as a National Holiday in 1983 and first observed by states in 1986, but also to remember states such as Arizona refusing to recognize the holiday and the furious response of Public Enemy in By the Time I Get to Arizona:

…That’s the way it is
He gotta get his
Talkin’ MLK
Gonna find a way
Make the state pay…

I still haven’t been back to Arizona …

I refuse to share the holiday

I will honor the legacy of MLK and the Civil Rights movement on the 15 because I refuse to share the holiday created in honor of a man who just over 60 years ago stood feet from where the January 6 insurrection against our democracy took place to give one of the most important speeches in history in which he said:

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as White men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I will not share the holiday with the architects of the January 6 insurrection on the Capitol, fueled by fear, fragility and fascism, who will be celebrating their dream of inequality and exclusion. I will not share the celebration of a vision of “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. I have a dream today” with the vision of people who 60+ years later operate from a vision of white supremacy, the fear of the great replacement theory and chants of “You will not replace us.”

I will not share the holiday recognizing the March on Washington that was organized by a Black labor union leader (A. Philip Randolph) and a gay Black man (Bayard Rustin) with people who have made it very clear they intend on attacking LGBQT rights and are openly anti-union. I will not share the celebration of a legacy of fighting against poverty for all with the celebration and embracing of oligarchs, and the exploitation of unfettered capitalism.

On January 15, I will honor MLK by reaffirming my commitment to actions to dismantle systems of oppression, racism, sexism and other isms, which have led to the continued moral, physical and spiritual suffering of so many within our nation.

On the 15, I will reflect on my past mistakes so that I can continue to grow and become more effective in my duties. I will spend the day with my community and colleagues as we open the Kensington Engagement Center. A space focused on resident participation and a theory of change which honors the core principles of the Civil Rights Movement and creates ongoing opportunities that turn theory into action.

Despite writing this from my community that bears the brunt of systemic racism and the epicenter of the nation’s opioid epidemic, I still believe in not a dream, but in actions that lead to a change in approaches, which in turn returns our humanity and our concern for the most vulnerable rather than celebrating those that subjugate them. I can see a future where instead of allowing fear to close our eyes to the failures of the past, we embrace the opportunity to learn and grow from past mistakes and missteps. I see a path to moving from a scarcity mindset and weakness-based approach to a strength-based approach which allows us to collaborate and create new and innovative solutions. I believe in the possibility of our city centering community voices, empowering residents and embracing the strengths and power of all stakeholders that are willing to come to the table in order to address our most critical issues.

Dr. King explained in “Why We Can’t Wait” that:

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to work to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right …

Join me in celebrating Dr. King’s legacy and our future on January 15 by using this time to creatively prepare for the next stage of the ongoing struggle.

Dr. Bill McKinney is a Kensington resident and the executive director of New Kensington Community Development Corporation.

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