View From Here
by David Mark Greaves
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have to be very disappointed with the turn the country has taken, leading further away from the Promised Land he saw for us in the future. He would be appalled at seeing a lifetime of work lost with the Voting Rights Act eviscerated, and voter suppression battles he imagined won by now still raging.
There are “teeming masses” of Brown and Black people at the southern border and urban city bus drop-offs, and the current presidential election is essentially a referendum on whether the United States will remain a democratic republic or become a fascist state.
There would be much for Dr. King to think about internationally as well, with wars in Ukraine and Israel, with thousands killed. The war between Russia and Ukraine would be unexpected, but the war between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel would not be. Dr. King would have thoughts about all of this and give us hope in his belief that “what self-centered men have torn down, other-centered men (and women) can build up.” He would not be shaken from his mission, No doubt he would require all to vote, believing that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” but only if the people’s collective efforts are applied to bend it.