Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated almost 60 years ago, and it’s nearly impossible to predict what he would say or how he would feel about the country’s social and political environment today.
However, the Rev. Traci Blackmon, CEO and founder of HopeBuilds, LLC., delivered her own insightful and inspirational account of King’s possible reflections on modern times during the keynote address of the 39th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Statewide Celebration on January 11, 2025, at Harris-Stowe State University.
As audacious conservatives try to portray King as someone who would have opposed affirmative action, quotas, reparations or any other policy related to diversity, equity or inclusion, Blackmon said: “To revise and reshape his legacy, our nation has deprived Dr. King of his true dream of radical social vision, love and prophetic insight at a time when our world needs such vision with insight like never before.”
Celebrants who packed the HSSU Dr. Henry Givens, Jr. Administration building auditorium rose to their feet several times with “Amens” and “that’s right” during the preacher’s tribute to King.
Regarding white supremacy, she recalled the civil rights era when people called for Dr. King’s death because he championed peace, fairness and equality.
“This MLK Day we are sourly reminded just how threatening truth can be to those whose history is built on a lie,” Blackmon preached.
“He faced the hatred of white vigilante mobs whose fear of racial equity was so deeply embedded that they were willing to kill people and destroy property solely to preserve the illusion of white social dominance.”
Without mentioning President-elect Trump, Blackmon defined and combined last year’s general election with some of the challenges voters faced when King was alive.
“We gather today in the shadow of an election cycle that was plagued with voter apathy, unbalanced and unvetted media coverage, excessive infusions of campaign funds from the wealthy few and far too many legislative actions designed to disenfranchise voters and thwart any attempt to shape a just democracy,” she said.
A year before his death, King loudly and dangerously spoke out against the Vietnam War. In his 1967 speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” King said:
“Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed…I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken.”
Blackmon noted that shortly before his death, nearly 75% of whites and more than 50% of Black people disapproved of King’s stance on the Vietnam War. She used those statistics to urge the audience to remain, like King, bold and steadfast in their beliefs.
“It would be easy, my friends, to grow weary but weariness is not a luxury we can afford,” Blackmon said.
“In his seminal speech delivered exactly one year before his untimely death, Dr. King suggested a radical revolution of values, emphasizing love and justice instead of economic nationalism.”
Reiterating that many people today “prefer to place King’s words in a museum of a collective past rather than heed the warnings of a complicated present,” Blackmon emphasized the need to remember the true meaning of King’s vision in spite of today’s political interpretations.
“To honor King, is to confront this nation with the uncomfortable truth that we have elected leadership that refuses to see.”
Blackmon expanded her thoughts on the country’s collective blindness.
“I’m speaking about seeing the world in a way that leads to care and justice. I’m talking about vision that emboldens us to transcend the particularities of our grand present and imagine a radical different future.”
Recalling King’s iconic 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, Blackmon highlighted the power of dreaming.
“Every positive moment of social change began with a dream and not the kind of dream we have when we are asleep; it’s the kind of dream we have when we are awoke. It begins with moral imagination.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.