Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., says in a post on Instgram, I don’t deny the power of my father’s most well-known speech, ‘I Have a Dream.’ However, its power and popularity (with focus on its conclusion) have been misused to weaken its clear messaging about ending racism, stopping police brutality, ensuring voting rights, and eradicating economic injustice.
Why didn’t Pastor Lorenzo Sewell pray these parts of the Dream during President Trump’s Inauguration?
Because the inconvenient truth (that disallows embracing the pipe dream that racism no longer exists in this country) is that Project 2025 and some of the plans that his voters encouraged POTUS to roll out on day one are reflective of an ‘America’ that denies the comprehensive King.
That’s why Pastor Sewell didn’t pray from my father’s ’The Other America,’ ‘The Three Evils of Society’…or ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail.’
It’s simpler to distort the rousing conclusion of #IHaveADream and twist it to push a narrative that authentic, compassionate work to prevent and stop discrimination is actually discriminatory.
It is much harder to distort #LetterFromBirminghamJail’s call to conscience to #Christians and its powerfully relevant teaching on nonviolent direct action, injustice anywhere, devotion to order over justice, doing what’s right, and disobeying unjust laws.
Who can validate inhumane legislation by integrating prayers about civil disobedience and freedom being demanded by the oppressed, both topics covered in LFBJ?
We need to get Daddy’s Dream right, while also realizing that, in his other speeches, sermons, and writings, including LFBJ, he provides the love-centered strategy and courageous path for realizing his Dream.
And we haven’t collectively embraced that strategy or started on that path. In fact, several of the Executive Orders rescinded by President Trump this week blatantly disregard both the strategy and the path.
So keep praying…but don’t pray the Dream in pursuit of false peace, which cries for unity while decrying inclusive and equitable policies and practices.
Pray the Dream in tandem with work for true peace, which, as my father said, is the presence of justice.
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