Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. Strength to Love, 1963.

National Park Service sites will have free admission for everyone on Monday, January 18, 2021, as the first fee free day of the year in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.

The National Park Service offers opportunities across the country to honor this important person.

In Georgia, there is the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park. In this location, you can walk through his neighborhood of Atlanta where he had his birthplace, home, church, and burial site. 

In Alabama, there’s the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail. Here you can retrace the steps of the 1965 Voting Rights March led by Dr. King on this 45-mile long trail.

In Alabama, there is also the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. At this national monument, you can visit places where Dr. King and his fellow activists coordinated for civil rights.

In Washington DC, there’s the Lincoln Memorial. Here you can stand where Dr. King gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech.

Also in Washington DC, you can visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. The memorial honors Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy and the struggle for freedom, equality, and justice.

Since travel isn’t an option for many of us right now, you can also participate in a Zoom to get a virtual tour of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park on Monday, January 18, 2021 at 6pm. This program is free and open to the public. Click here for the Zoom information.

Take time on this Monday to honor and celebrate this great man. Educate yourself and act.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Letter from Birmingham, Alabama jail, April 16, 1963.

Educate and Act

Racism, violence, and hate have no place in our world.  Black lives do matter. And silence is not an option.

Take the opportunity to learn more and get a better understanding of the institutionalized and systematic racism in our country.  Here are a few books listed below to check out.

Books:

  • Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
  • How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
  • White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
  • Biased by Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt
  • Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino
  • Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children In A Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey
  • Waking Up White by Debby Irving
  • Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
  • Brutal Imagination by Cornelius Eady
  • The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
  • A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature by Jacqueline Goldsby
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
  • So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
  • Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

We can also support those organizations who are working to end social injustice. Click on their names to learn more about several organizations working hard on this front. Consider supporting them both financially and with your voice.  Many other organizations exist as I just listed a few here and not in any order.

Organizations:

You can do many things such as sign petitions, text and call legislators, donate to these organizations, educate yourself, donate supplies, protest in person or virtually, and more.  And vote.

“The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity. If discrimination is creating equity, then it is antiracist. If discrimination is creating inequity, then it is racist.”
Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist