We set aside one day of the year to return to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s values when we should be educating about and exemplifying them all year round.

Every year we remark on how far we’ve come in pursuing Dr. King’s dream, when these days I frequently see more steps backward than forward, frequently in backlash and fear of actual progress.

The same pieces of biography, the same speeches, are retold again and again, but how often do we actually examine Dr. King’s life in a way that shows people that he was human, prone to anger, and that his rooting in nonviolence was a conscious channeling of that anger rather than an absence or a quelling of it?

MLK was a hero and a role model and if we truly believe that, we need to strive to be more LIKE him, not to put him on a pedestal and dedicate an annual service-day in his name.  We need to be critical of the institutions in place and look for solutions to the causes of continuing social injustice, not ways to alleviate or mask the symptoms.  We need to treat one another like human beings and unite with others in working toward true equality.  We need to acknowledge inequality and social injustice and actively work against it.  When it applies, we need to recognize our own privilege and use whatever that may grant us to be active forces in trying to dismantle that imbalance of power.  We need to call others out, to educate, to act.

Many of the people who read this blog probably do much of this already, and are always willing to do more.  Some do so to the point of burnout. Much of this is just preaching to the choir — but maybe some small piece of it will spark a new idea somewhere.

We cannot be complacent in the recognition of a great man in such a way that deters us from continuing his work.  And if that is what MLK Day is going to be, it falls short of representing the man it’s supposed to honor.  If we could extend the message of that one day and connect it to our thoughts and actions throughout the year…then, we might have something I think he could be proud of.  But we can’t pat ourselves on the back.  Not yet.