Remembering King

Remembering King

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscious tells him it is right.” Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

April 4th marked the 50th anniversary of the death of America’s civil rights leader, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago, shots rang out from atop the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, the hotel King had been staying at after he delivered his final speech — “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” — at the Mason Temple the night prior. In that infamous speech, Dr. King told those gathered to hear him, “I’ve seen the promised land, I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land.” King was assassinated the next day; however, his presence, for those who were able to witness it, is one that will never be forgotten.

50 years later, American people are still fighting against many of the same injustices King had fought against, as well as some new injustices. Many people won’t make the connection between environmental injustice and Dr. King’s fight, but there is a direct connection to be made. Dr. King’s fight for civil rights was one that all people could place claim to. Blacks weren’t the only people who were denied rights and justice — white people were also killed in their fight to stand up for racial equality and equity. We have gotten better, but our fight is far from over.

As we take time to honor and celebrate the life of Dr. King, we must assess where we are today and make a clear decision on where it is that we want to be in the future; it is democracy that allows us to do this. Witnessing the current administration’s attack on climate and how they are dismantling regulations and policies designed to protect the American people and our environment further evidences that we must keep hope alive and keep pushing as Dr. King did in our efforts to invoke national change that is equitable and accessible.

King would be pleased to know that his legacy still lives on as we push back against the administration and its assaults on those most vulnerable and susceptible to catastrophic effects of climate change. As people pulled together from all over to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama behind King, people are pulling together from all over to fight the political injustices that our country still faces t 50 years after the death of Dr. King. To keep Dr. King’s Legacy alive, we are calling out injustice. This is done from the citizen level on up to government officials. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has attempted to roll back every environmental protection policy put in place to protect citizens from corporate pollutants, which contaminate our air, water, and lands. Pruitt is not only failing African American communities, but he is failing the nation as a whole. Trump and Pruitt are now targeting the Clean Power Plan and the Clean Cars Standards, which, if gutted, would continue to have detrimental health and financial effects on marginalized communities. This not only affects people of color but low-income families, as well. With statistics stating that African American children are 4.5 times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma and 10 times more likely to die from asthma than white children, you have question the motives of the Trump Administration and Scott Pruitt, both men who took an oath to protect the American people from environmental harms.

Nationally conservation groups are calling for his resignation or for him to be fired along with 15 other congressmen such as Representative Beyer, who believes Pruitt has acted terribly and in violation of his responsibilities to the people he has sworn to protect. The fire that Dr. King started is still blazing strong as ever 50 years later. As we look back over the past 50 years, we can witness changes. We also can witness how some injustices have been substituted for others, so we continue to be resilient and to fight on. I think Dr. King would be well pleased with what we are doing, continuing his legacy so that we all get to the promised land as a people, as he said we would.

BeKura Shabazz Branch, Climate Organizer, Virginia Conservation Network, Richmond, Va. 23219