Nearly 51 years have passed since Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, which helps explain why many Americans today lack a deep understanding of his identity and legacy.
The story of Martin Luther King is familiar to schoolchildren across generations. Yet elementary textbooks struggle to capture the magnitude of the transformative change he catalyzed throughout the nation. For those under 50, Martin Luther King represents simply another figure in history’s record. But those who lived through the 1960s—an era marked by racial segregation in half the country and overt racism in the other half—recognize him as among America’s greatest leaders. His powerful rhetoric and unwavering dedication fundamentally altered the course of American race relations, a subject historians sometimes call the Original Sin of the American experience.
Despite significant progress toward racial equality over the past 50 years, the reality remains that we have not yet achieved Dr. King’s vision. His famous words from the 1963 Lincoln Memorial speech—that people should be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin—still ring unfulfilled.
A troubling movement appears intent on reversing the hard-won advances of the past five decades. Police killings of African-Americans represent only the most visible symptom. More consequential have been court rulings dismantling voting rights protections, the unequal prosecution and imprisonment of minorities for drug offenses, and voter ID requirements and gerrymandering schemes that, according to a federal court in North Carolina, achieve with surgical precision the suppression of fair representation for people of color at every level of government.
We frequently ask ourselves, “fblikebutton_button”What would Dr. Martin Luther King do?”fblikebutton_button” The answer cannot be known with certainty, but history suggests that King would recognize how much work remains. Despite his extraordinary accomplishments, he would surely understand that the cause for which he sacrificed his life continues unfinished—and we must hope his example of spirit and courage inspires coming generations to build a society where all people receive dignity and respect.