What would MLK say about this moment in American democracy? We don't have to guess.

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Hakeem Jefferson
@hakeemjefferson
I have a piece out today at @sfchronicle for #MLKDay2022. In it, I ask what King would say at this moment in American democracy. Reflecting on a powerful speech he gave in 1957, I imagine King would say, as he did decades ago, "Give us the ballot!"

sfchronicle.com
What would MLK say about this moment in American democracy? We don’t have to guess
King left for us powerful words that seem eerily applicable to the current crisis we...
8:16 AM · Jan 17, 2022

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/What-would-MLK-say-about-this-moment-in-American-16777631.php

As I reflect on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., I can’t help but think of how fitting, albeit distressing, it is that we find ourselves debating legislation that would protect and expand the right to vote for all Americans.

And I can’t help but wonder at this moment, “What would King say?”

What would he say as American democracy hangs in the balance? What would he say to Republicans hellbent on making it harder for Black people to vote? What would King say to white moderates who seem more committed to an archaic Senate rule than they are to the promise of a multiracial democracy? What would he say to all of us who, for good reason, feel that we are fighting an uphill battle whose outcome is preordained?

Well, we don’t have to guess what King would say. He left for us powerful words that seem eerily applicable to the current crisis we face.

In 1957, six years before his speech at the March on Washington and eight years before the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, King gave another speech in Washington, D.C., commemorating the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown vs. Board of Education.

Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King remarked that “all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters.” Continuing, he argued that, “The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition.” Before a crowd of thousands, King made a plea to those in power and said, “Our most urgent request to the president of the United States and every member of Congress is to give us the right to vote.”

*snip*

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