By the New RoAR News Editorial Board

A comedian joked on late night TV that he would be going all out to celebrate MLK Day this year because he believed it would be the last one.   With the federal government canceling all planned celebrations and removing MLK Day and Juneteenth as Free Entrances Days in the National Parks, it was less of a joke and more an accurate description of the white washing of American History by the current administration.

This blatant attempt to scrub the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. from our nation’s history is just the latest effort to minimize Dr. King’s message.  For too long we have been asked to focus on Dr. King’s commitment to non-violence and his “dream” with little to no focus on his damning critique of capitalism, racism and militarism. 

This MLK Day, as we lay witness to the brutal terror of masked ICE agents in the streets of Minneapolis, the use of military force in pursuit of oil and the ruthless dismantling of our social safety net, let us listen to and read Dr. King’s words and then take action.  The sanitized version of Dr. King would have you believe that all that is needed is a dream.  The reality of Dr. King is that the people must take action to enact the changes needed to create a beloved and just society.