MLK Day

Is it pretentious and insulting to imagine what MLK would do if he were here today, or is it an inevitable way to facilitate important conversations about our culture that are still sorely needed? I don’t think anything but good can come of any conversation – no matter how superficial or brief – about the legacy of MLK. I realize it’s like the Thanksgiving and MLK day meals at shelters that are packed with volunteers who never step foot in the place the rest of the year. But I still believe that any drop of good improves the pond we all swim in - isolated acts of charity and pat postings and repostings in social media included. They probably won’t change the world, but they are something. We desperately need more somethings and less nothings. So here I go: I believe if MLK were alive today he would be sleeping in a public space participating in Occupy (insert city name here). In the last months of his life he had made the “Poor People Campaign” his top priority and he was reportedly making plans for the effort the day he was shot. Of course it’s impossible to know where life may have taken him had he lived, but his devotion to economic justice and his passion for civil disobedience and direct action in the streets seem to make the Occupy movement a natural fit for his legacy. Of course I really have no clue what MLK would be doing today, but it’s not hard to imagine him out there in the streets. It’s not hard to imagine Jesus out there either, but that’s a discussion for another day.