By: Adam Clark

What does it mean to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the age of Trump? Too many Americans see the King legacy as focused on the racial segregation of America’s distant past but not the political and moral quagmires of today. With the increasing polarization and political fracturing of American society, can the life and legacy of King remain a viable resource in a country whose president’s brand identity, “Make America Great Again,” invokes a past where blacks were not full citizens, women were marginalized and sexual minorities suppressed? How can the grand legacy of King address the tribalism of contemporary culture?
King is rightly credited as being a key leader in getting blacks the right to vote and ending segregation in the South, but those achievements, as important as they are, don’t capture the entirety of King’s contribution. King’s mission was to redeem the soul of America; to loosen America from her historic shackles and push her to live out her highest purpose. It is this aspect of the King legacy, the revisioning of our life together, that has largely disappeared from public and political life. King consistently pointed out there’s a gap between American ideals and American reality. America claims to be about freedom, justice and equality, but her reality is far different. What King called for was for America to be true to her own commitments. He fervently believed America’s history of slavery and segregation need not be her destiny. History is not fated or determined, and contradictions of life are not final. Humans create history, and can inject new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization. The birthing of a new society is an organic, not mechanical, process.
Democracies are either growing or decaying. The idea of “Making America Great” by going back to some fictionalized past is completely against King’s vision. The idea is not to romanticize or preserve a flawed democracy by going back, but to evolve or grow a better democracy out of our present conditions.
King reminds us that the goal of the struggle was not only the right to sit at the front of the bus or to vote; but to give birth to a new society based on love and justice. As we face an impeachment trial, an intensification of the “War on Terror” and another deeply polarizing election, I think King’s legacy grows increasingly relevant. In his last book, he raised the question “where do we go from here?” The world was growing more and more interdependent; nevertheless, there were strong antagonistic forces keeping people divided. King’s message was, despite the reactionary forces that keep us divided, we need each other.
King saw a hidden wholeness beneath the brokenness and division in human life. He didn’t see our choices as being between black versus white, Republican versus Democrat, gay versus straight; for him the choice was clear: chaos or community. We can live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools.
Americans must “undergo a radical revolution in values where we transform from a thing-centered society to a person-centered society.” It is possible, King conceded, that America is so wedded to a death instinct that she locks herself into spiraling patterns of division and self-destruction. The catastrophic is a live option. But King called us to be more courageous, he reminded us that while elections are important, what’s more important is “what kind of democracy are we trying to become,” just and inclusive, or tribal and restrictive? He called us to shed the scales from our eyes and see the hidden wholeness, which he referred to as beloved community. Beloved community is both within and before us, and with this awareness we are challenged to be able to hew out stones of hope from mountains of despair.
Adam Clark is an associate professor in the Department of Theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH.