* * * * * * *
Something a little different for Martin Luther King Day: a serious reflection on King’s dream and his legacy.
* * * * * * * 
The United States is celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 19, 2026. It is, of course, named for the great civil rights leader.
King was a unifier. Yes, blacks were treated like second-class citizens during the time he was most active, and he was certainly looking to correct that. But — in my view, anyway — his ultimate goal was to bring all people together — black, white, everyone — not some separate but equal situation, and not some racial preference system based on skin color.
He wanted everyone to be judged on their character, as he said in this famous quote:
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” (I Have a Dream speech, 1963.)
I wonder what he would think of America today, where colleges use race to determine who gets admitted, and public schools teach that white people are, by nature, racist — they’re just born that way.
King also condemned violence as a means of getting what you want. The following is from his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1964:
“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral.
“I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle.
“But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.” (Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1964)
If King were alive today, I have to believe, yes, he’d condemn the January 6th Capitol Attack, but he’d also condemn Antifa’s actions in Portland and elsewhere and the Black Lives Matter rioting that burned many black-owned businesses to the ground. He would not refer to the latter as “peaceful protests” as so much of the media did.
And what would he say about the vast cultural divide in today’s America, where you’re either on the left or the right, woke or unwoke, progressive or conservative, and no quarter can be given? An America where cancel culture is increasingly OK with censorship and suppressing free speech?
For starters, I think he’d remind us that:
“There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” (A Gift of Love, published in 2012.)
He also understood that loyalty to a tribe and a self-serving agenda keeps people at each other’s throats. Consider this quote:
“If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.” (Christmas Sermon, 1967.)
King believed in unity, and he knew service brings people together.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” (Speech in Montgomery, AL, 1957.)
The National Parks Service sees MLK Day as a day of service — a chance for Americans to help their communities. It quotes King’s wife, Coretta Scott King:
