On this long weekend when MLK day falls on inauguration day, and much of the country faces a big chill, a long overdue step forward for women’s rights was announced by President Biden: the ratification into the U.S. Constitution of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Read MoreIssue 250— January 15, 2024
Re-print: Originally Published January 21, 2019
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
The two movements that have shaped my life converged this long weekend.
Read MoreIssue 218 — January 16, 2023
January 16, 2023: The nation celebrates the birthday of Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King today.
For many, the holiday acknowledging Dr. King’s transformational significance in American History has become primarily a welcome long weekend off from work. For others, it’s the opportunity to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy in secular and religious settings, as President Joe Biden did at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King had been the pastor.
Read MoreIssue 189— January 17, 2022
I honestly can’t believe that my column on January 18, 2021, recognizing Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday barely struck the alarm it deserved.
How could I not have drawn brightly the profound contrast between Dr. King’s exhortations to Civil Rights movement activists to hold nonviolent protests and last year’s January 6 violent breech of the Capitol?
Read MoreIssue 157 — January 17, 2021
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
That’s my favorite quote from Dr. King. And I feel sure that if he were writing those words today, he would include “woman.” Because as he himself often noted, justice must always expand to be inclusive of all.
Read MoreSo many images from the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, whose fiftieth anniversary we celebrated on August 28, remain as stirring for me today as they were on that hot, steamy day in 1963:
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