The Movement is Not History, It’s Happening
Written by Somáh Haaland - Media Coordinator - Pueblo Action Alliance
Today, we are honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy by reflecting on his contributions to the Civil Rights movement and how they have affected us since his assassination a short 53 years ago. The movement is not history, it’s happening.
Dr. King’s commitment to direct action in pursuit of justice helped to inspire a generation of protestors that planted revolutionary seeds that we are still tending today. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963) Dr. King wrote, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." As we have collectively witnessed, especially since the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, these words are extremely true. At PAA, we greatly value that network of mutuality, and we don’t take it for granted. We are inspired to continue the fight for justice in solidarity with one another.
Obtaining equality seemed radical in Dr. King’s time, but demonstrations like the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington sparked change and showed that rising up is possible. Recent Black Lives Matter protests are among some of the largest in US history, but many of the same messages from the Civil Rights Movement era are still being echoed.
A preacher of love and nonviolence, King not only fought for equality in the US but spoke out against the Vietnam war, which brought him much opposition. The FBI began surveillance on Dr. King in 1955 after accusations that he and his work had tied to communism. In 1967, they created a Counter Intelligence Program in opposition to King and other civil rights leaders, categorizing many organizers as “Black Nationalist Hate Groups.” We have heard this rhetoric before. This kind of targeting and dismissal of a movement as a “hate group” did not end with King.
He was targeted with two assassinations, the second of which ended his life on April 4th, 1968. Dr. King’s murder, like the killing of Malcolm X in 1965, sparked unrest and polarity across the continent, while radicalizing many activists and fueling the growth of the Black Power movement and the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Charles Hamilton Houston said, “Maybe the next generation will be able to take time out to rest, but we have too far to go and too much work to do.” We pay our respects to revolutionaries like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as we pay respect to our own revolutionary ancestors, while continuing the pursuit of justice everywhere.