MLK Holiday: The truth will prevail?

I BELIEVE THAT UNARMED TRUTH AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE WILL HAVE THE FINAL WORD IN REALITY. THAT IS WHY RIGHT, TEMPORARILY DEFEATED, IS STRONGER THAN EVIL TRIUMPHANT.”

— DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

This past week was challenging.

Racial reckoning and healing gatherings are needed now more than ever, but they will have to meet differently this MLK holiday.

During this time, I often reach out for comfort from elders, those who have survived the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Those who introduced me to this thing we call movement work. Their once-distant stories of discrimination, bodies beaten, integration, cross burnings, lynching and peaceful marches that turned violent seems, well, all too close to home.

At one point a host of domestic terror threats surrounding had me and my partner loading up on essentials for concern that our very existence as an “interracial” couple would put us in danger. The first time we got yelled at while holding hands on main street was unnerving. Our skins are much thicker these days.

Or, the time that my movement work deemed me a target. Around the corner, some planned a Halloween party with round white Styrofoam balls pierced with red tees mocking the COVID-19 virus atop of a coffin for the body of a presidential candidate. As if that wasn’t scary enough, I learned the following day that my husband had COVID.

I realized early in life that even when I come in peace, others may (or will) not. But no matter what stories you hear, nothing can ever really prepare you for fear of leaving your own home. I never imagined walking through a neighborhood unarmed would be an act of courage and resistance.

MLK Day celebrations once provide me with a glimpse of hope. The past few years have been different.

My family dinner table and holidays were full of stories about how they resisted and worked collectively to overcome Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, and as such, is formally celebrated every January, but, truly, he’s someone we should be honoring and remembering year-round. The fought for integration of Lexington High School, wrote books, protested injustice. And while many women’s names are left out of the civil rights conversation, the day is an important pause to honor every collaborator who did their part to help us move toward racial equity.

It’s hard not to think about how the civil rights activist, who was assassinated in 1968, would’ve responded to all the injustices Davidson County still faces. No doubt, King would march and elevate those whose voices go unheard. He would give speeches—powerful, beautiful, peaceful, necessary ones—urging people to keep pushing for change.

For me, this is a time to heal and what I need most at this moment is to return to that feeling of hope.

Hope that this experiment deemed “Democracy” will indeed be maintained.

Hope that every time I walk to my mailbox, I will return safely from a chillingly divided America.

Hope that Dr. King, in his prophetic wisdom and insight, was right and that unarmed truth and unconditional love will prevail.

Hope that I make my ancestors proud.

Hope those little ones will look back at our leadership attempts with grace.

I shared a post on Facebook a few weeks ago.

I am reminded that “Time” told King’s story…even as he wrote letters from a Birmingham jail.

What will history say about you?

Extending prayers for hope, health and healing this week.

We’re going to need it.