Monday, Jan. 20, is the MLK holiday. It also is the presidential inauguration. The irony lies in what these two men represent and committed their lives to.
Dr. King was born into a preacher’s family and became a Baptist minister. Trump was raised in a mansion in Jamaica Estates, Queens.
Trump earned a BS in economics. King earned a Ph.D. after his MA Div.
King gave speeches and organized marches in support of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. Trump made it harder for people of color, those with limited English, with disabilities and seniors to vote.
On civil rights, Trump has vowed “retribution” against his enemies, in particular the Justice Department, and the current Civil Rights Division staff.
King was an advocate of nonviolent resistance and nonviolent civil disobedience to enact change, like resisting the Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination. King was jailed several times as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover saw King as a radical.
In 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality via nonviolent resistance. Starkly different from Trump’s support of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Trump will be inaugurated and hold the distinction of being the only U.S. president to gain office as a convicted and sentenced felon.
I choose to celebrate Dr. King and his “dream” that we all deserve the same right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” this Jan. 20.
Timothy Thomas
Durango
