Indivisibles, 

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and we think one great way to honor his legacy is by taking on the systemic injustices that have historically made this a country for the few, not the many. 

In 2021, we’re taking action and demanding justice for the 700,000 people who’ve been disenfranchised in the District of Columbia. One of the key priorities outlined in our latest Indivisible Guide is democracy reform, and that starts with addressing critical racial justice and civil rights issues like D.C. statehood. Historically, racist politicians have prevented D.C. from becoming a state because the city has long been a majority Black city. If you’re ready to start charting a new path forward, start calling your members of Congress this week and demand they support the D.C. statehood bill (H.R. 51). Then, keep reading for more on Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement of today.

While we encourage our movement to reflect on King’s words, teachings, and impact, it’s important to recognize that King’s legacy has largely been sanitized and made more palatable for white audiences. Democratic Senator-elect Rev. Raphael Warnock spoke of this in 2018, drawing on the history of the Civil Rights Movement and his own experience as a pastor at the same church as King. He said, “When Dr. King died we resurrected a new Martin Luther King Jr., one who does not make us too uncomfortable ... He was the best kind of patriot because he loved the country enough to tell the country the truth.” 

Like a mirror held up before the country, King was honest about America’s plagues -- the white-supremacist violence, the racial segregation, the institutionalized discrimination and disenfranchisement -- and for being honest, he was assassinated. In his ‘Letters From Birmingham Jail’, King expressed that freedom is never given voluntarily -- it must be demanded.  

We can never forget that when demanding more power, when making the institutions that exploit us uncomfortable and quake, there will be a struggle. America was founded on the oppression of Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples, and our democracy was rigged from the start. If we hope to make our democracy as inclusive and representative as possible, we’re going to have to demand change, and expect a backlash from those who are in power. 

The last two weeks offered a glimpse of this very struggle -- on January 5, Rev. Warnock won his Senate run-off election in Georgia -- making history as the first Black Democratic senator from the South. Warnock’s win, as well as Jon Ossoff’s, clinched the Senate for the Democrats and ensured a Democratic trifecta. These monumental wins were made possible by Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) activists on the ground in Georgia organizing, registering, and activating BIPOC voters. Organizations like Color of Change, Black Voters Matter, the New Georgia Project, Fair Fight, Mijente, Poder Latinx, People for the American Way, America Votes, local Indivisible groups, and more, made a huge impact on this election, and in November.

In response, we saw white-supremacist, right-wing violence all over the country on January 6. If we compare the police response to the violent mob that stormed the Capitol to that of the peaceful protests for racial justice and economic equity last summer, it becomes painfully clear that this struggle threatens those in power. It’s critical that we look at this moment through the long scope of American history to understand how we got here, and also, we must acknowledge that for most Black Americans, these experiences aren’t new or unexpected: 

“It’s clear that a river of rage and anger runs from Jim Crow America to the tiki-torch protests in Charlottesville to the mobs this week...Something is being snatched from them and it’s not just money or jobs or security or even the White House.”

Michele L. Norris

That something Norris is referring to is power. It’s whiteness. It’s claiming this space as theirs, and theirs only. When we look back at the struggle for Black Americans to work, vote, and exist in the Jim Crow south, we can draw a line straight to BIPOC Georgian’s enfranchisement in the last two years and the struggle for representation and statehood in D.C. That’s why we’re prioritizing democracy reforms like D.C. statehood -- they’re critical to ensuring a truly representative democracy for all Americans.

We’ll leave you with King’s words from 'Letters from Birmingham Jail': 

“For years now I have heard the word 'Wait!' It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.' We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that 'justice too long delayed is justice denied.'"

We’re tired of waiting -- and we hope you’ll make calls demanding D.C. statehood this week.

In solidarity, 
Indivisible Team