By Aswad Walker
With the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day fast approaching, along with its annual parades, dream-themed speeches, the oh-so-cherished day off work, and the obligatory additional activities (cook-outs, banquets, and annual organizational happenings), this may be a good time to reassess the same-o-same that we seem to do every… single… year.
In fact, it’s probably past time that we think of ways to make the annual commemoration more impactful. A day honoring the “drum major for justice” deserves to be so much more than it is at present. Moreover, we as a people need it to be so much more.
How do we know this is so? Because all the things MLK spoke on and/or fought and died for – civil/human rights, economic justice for the poor, an end to the U.S. military-industrial complex, a guaranteed wage, Black self-determination, reparations, etc. – are fights we need to be engaged in today, over 56 years after his murder.
To that end, here are the “Top 5 things needed to take MLK Day to ‘a whole-nutha’ level.”
MAKE IT SINGLE-ISSUE-FOCUSED
By making the annual celebration a single-issue-focused happening we can set the stage for organizations of all kinds choosing to work together instead of operating as they have been for too long, in their individual silos.
Not only that, with all faith institutions, Divine Nine members, schools, community centers, grassroots organizations, etc., pooling their collective brainpower, human-power and resources behind one issue for an entire year (with MLK Day being the kick-off), think of how many challenges we can overcome and progress we can make.
MAKE IT A WEEKLONG HAPPENING
Organically, MLK Day has already expanded to a weekend experience. Why not make it an entire week, with everything geared towards the work Blackworld will focus on during that year? That week could be used to make or finalize plans, form new collaborations and alliances, learn new skills and technologies, and form/strengthen our relationships. This annual weeklong happening could instill the spirit of ‘Ubuntu” (I am because we are) deeper into our beings so we are less likely to fracture and disband when challenges arise – choosing rather to work together, recognizing that “when spider webs unite they can tie up a lion.”
INCORPORATE THE KWANZAA PRINCIPLES
The Nguzi Saba (Seven Kwanzaa Principles) were never meant to be recognized from Dec. 26 – Jan. 1 alone. They were meant to be practiced daily. Incorporating those principles – unity, self-determination, collective work & responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith – into everything that goes down during the MLK festivities would serve as a powerful statement to Black people across the globe. Being hyper-intentional about cooperative economics alone could improve the conditions of “Blackworld” exponentially. If we did the same with each of the seven principles, making them foundational to every parade, banquet, speech, BBQ, conference, symposium, community clean-up, etc., we’re talking about an entirely different world.
TEACH THE UNKNOWN MLK
There is no law anywhere that says we have to be slavishly committed to using the same tired, white-washed script to teach who MLK was and what he stood for. Practicing Kujichagulia, being self-determining, means we don’t have to ask anybody’s permission to stop teaching the version of MLK approved by the same people who stood against him while he was alive, considered him a menace, and openly said he needed to be silenced. If we dare make it an annual tradition to focus on the unknown, un-white-washed MLK, especially the MLK of 1965 – 1968, we might mess around and discover that during those last three years of his life, MLK sounded more like Malcolm X than Malcolm X sounded like Malcolm X. Just sayin’. And it wouldn’t hurt if we stopped teaching MLK as if he were some super-powered, mythic being and focused rather on his humanity, facing the same challenges, doubts, fears, etc. that we face. Such an approach takes the focus and onus off him and what MLK did back in the day, and instead places it on us and what we’re called to do right now.
CELEBRATE DIFFERENCE-MAKING WORK
A critical component of any movement to improve a people’s conditions is celebration. Even Jesus and his crew, who were busy fighting against the oppressive Roman colonizers and rallying his people, the Hebrews, to build a self-determining “Kingdom of God” here on earth, took time out to participate in a foundational community celebration – a wedding. And Jesus not only participated, he got the party started right (and quickly, right). We have the power to use the annual MLK happenings to celebrate the individuals and organizations that have done outstanding work regarding the previous year’s theme/focus. That way, the MLK Week will celebrate victories from the previous year while sharpening the focus on the work that lies ahead. And celebration (positive reinforcement) is more effective at getting buy-in. The more we celebrate the self-determining, power-building actions we want, the more we will see individuals and organizations participating in those same actions.
The choice is ours. We can keep on doing the same-o-same MLK activities that kinda-sorta capture our attention for a day, or we can give this annual commemoration the new life and focus both it and we need… a focus that can capture our attention for a year, for a decade, for generations, for a lifetime.
