Remembering the day Martin Luther King Jr. debuted precursor to ‘I Have A Dream’ speech in Detroit
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DETROIT – Monday is the 35th official Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Celebrated the third Monday of every January, the holiday celebrates Dr. King’s Jan. 15 birthday and his legacy.
The holiday was observed as a federal holiday for the first time on Jan. 20, 1986. The Civil Rights leader fought for the end of social injustice and the expansion of labor rights battles that are still ongoing.
For many, MLK Day is just another day off a day to relax, a day to do things, do some community service. For one couple, the day means so much more to them because they were there the day King came to Detroit and debuted his original “I Have a Dream” speech on June 23, 1963.
I’ll never forget my first organising training course in 2016. We walked through scenarios about arrests, communications, treating pepper spray, and supporting our comrades. And then the instructor, a young Black Chicagoan, slowed his speech, looked at all of us solemnly, and said, “Be prepared for anything. They will drag you. They will knock you unconscious. They will do whatever they can do to keep you from speaking out. They will literally kill you.”
At the time, during a critical period in the Movement for Black Lives, we were actively fighting against a system that had facilitated the killings of young Black Americans like Rekia Boyd and Quintonio LeGrier. As a collective, we were struggling to find justice for young Black people in Chicago who were facing the hyper-surveillance of the state, mass school closures, divestments in communities of colour and white supremacist violence.
Rep. Jim Clyburn: Our country is at a crossroads. We must urgently reclaim King s vision of America James E. Clyburn, Special to USA TODAY
S.C. Rep. James E. Clyburn discusses the civil rights movement
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I do not think it is possible to look back on our recent national elections and subsequent events and not conclude that our country is at a crossroads. That could be an alarming prospect but for the fact that it is not unfamiliar terrain.
At a low point in his career of activism, Martin Luther King, Jr., asked himself a question - one also relevant to the wider Civil Rights Movement and just as pertinent today: Where do we go from here?
He was so torn about the state of civil rights, the possible fracturing of the movement and the pressures the Vietnam War was exerting on the country that King took a brief break from the action, secluded himself in a villa in Jamaica and wrote a book, appropriately titled, Where Do We Go from Here?
It was June 1965, and there was little question that race relations were dire and getting worse. Washington Post columnist William Raspberry put it bluntly: “Anybody who can look you in the eye and tell you Black America is in good shape is either a fraud or a fool.” The movement was at a crossroads, as was the nation. Then, as now, there was bickering, debate and disagreement over the best path forward.