Above Photo: Black Lives Matter Gerry Image
No matter where you are in the world, the name Martin Luther King, Jr., is synonymous with freedom, equality, and hope. On January 16, we’ll commemorate his life, legacy and the contributions of other civil rights warriors whose resistance to oppression pushed the country toward equality. But this year will be different. Just four days after MLK Day, we’ll witness the inauguration of a President who is the antithesis of everything Dr. King stood for; a demagogue who galvanized millions by spewing hate and promising to harm the most vulnerable in this nation.
The threats of mass deportation, the dismantling of Obamacare, the registration of Muslims and the criminalization of women’s health, are loud and clear. Black people and other people of color are being targeted by vigilantes, our places of worship are being burned, our children are being attacked at school and the promise of more “law and order” policing leaves us even more vulnerable to police terror.
Now is the time for action. To emphasize the urgency of this moment and the need to resist, we’ve expanded #ReclaimMLK to #Reclaim&Resist, an entire week of actions from January 16-20.
Because a Trump presidency threatens numerous vulnerable communities, we’re calling those on the frontlines of the Immigrant Rights, Reproductive Justice, Environmental, Labor, Youth, Indigenous Rights, Muslim, Arab and South Asian struggles, to take action with us.
More than ever, we must come together. Join the call to action.
Two years ago, the Movement for Black Lives continued in the tradition of civil disobedience and direct action to reclaim the narrative of the Civil Rights Movement from corporate America, Hollywood, and others bent on sanitizing Black history rooted in radical tradition. #ReclaimMLK is a call to connect our contemporary movements, and to eschew respectability in order to embrace the radical courage of our people in the present. Today, as many ask us to “wait and see” and “respect” politicians aimed at hurting us, that original call is even more urgent.
The Movement for Black Lives includes a number of organizations, individuals and networks focused on a hopeful and inclusive vision of Black joy, safety and prosperity. That means freedom from violence and economic inequality, as well as the freedom to realize our greatest dreams.
“RESIST & RECLAIM” from MLK to Inauguration Day | January 16-20, 2017