On June 1, 2020, people, Black, White and others, gathered in the Lafayette Square area of Washington, D. C. to protest the killing of George Floyd and other Black men by police brutality. Due to an imposed curfew, the protestors crowded the street by day and dispersed near the 7:00 p.m. curfew. President Trump twitted furiously to governors and that they were “weak” for permitting the generally peaceful gatherings that was occurring throughout the country. Police often acted brutally against protesters.
The president was to make a speech from the Rose Garden of the White House. The U.S. attorney general ordered park police, local police, Secret Service officers and National Guard troops to come forth to control and disburse peaceful protesters in proximity to the White House. Soon military Humvees were in abundance. Every street around the White House was jammed with layers of police and military personnel. Thirty minutes before the curfew, mounted police and lines of park police, national guard troops and the secret service started moving forward as if to crush anything in the way. The peaceful protesters began to run to avoid being squashed by hoofs or booted feet. The people had done nothing to prompt the move. Off to the side in front of an episcopal church, the president waved a Bible (held upside down) and grinned broadly for a photo op. Meanwhile peaceful protesters were being scattered by tear gas, battle-armed police, military personnel, and low flying helicopters.
Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have A Dream speech, Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963.
A permit was granted for thousands to gather in Washington, D.C. to voice their support of freedoms guaranteed in the first amendment of the Constitution. For months, the President had tweeted that they should come to Washington on January 6th; it was going to be “wild.” They came by the thousands and moved in the direction of the Capitol. On this day presidential votes of the electoral college were to be counted and certified by a joint session of Congress. Members of Congress were in the building preparing to do the certification. The president met the crowd and incited them with false declarations of voter fraud to storm the Capitol, the symbol of democracy in the United States. Right-winged, primarily white, insurrectionists stormed the Capitol to make null the votes of the people. Capitol police were grossly understaffed to stop them. Insurrectionists stormed, trashed, looted, and searched for critical data and hostages. Five died. When assistance did arrive, the insurrectionists simply walked out of the Capitol.
I still believe that we shall overcome. This faith gives us courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Noble Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Oslo, Norway, December 10, 1964.
Reflections
Suggested readings/videos:
Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have a Dream. Speech during March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963.
(Video of “I Have a Dream” speech (http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Politics/-/I-Have-a-Dream/7283), from LearnOutLoud.com
Martin Luther King, Jr. Acceptance speech for the Nobel Pease Prize, December 10, 1964 in Oslo, Norway.
How is the content of these speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. relevant to the storming of the United States Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, 2021?
Dorothy Watson Tatem, D.Min., ACC
Senior Associate
Next Step Associates, LLC
Cassandra W. Jones, Ed.D.
CEO & President
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