Friend,

Today, we honor the legacy of civil rights leader and activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King's was a prophetic voice at a time of great crisis in our country. He connected the dots between racism, poverty, violence, and war. He connected the American struggle to ways that people have struggled across the globe and from the earliest days, insisting that we understand that connectivity as both an act of humility and humanity.

His message sometimes gets diluted into bromides and slogans. But at the core, he was reckoning – as a minister, an activist, and a political leader – with fundamental questions about love, power, freedom, and justice. Part of what is so powerful to me about Dr. King’s work is that he insisted we base our choices, actions, and language in love – this was non-negotiable as both a moral and strategic imperative. There was no way to move forward without love.

We also live in a time of American crisis. In this crisis, we see the dangers of extremism and fundamentalism that have their grips in political power structures and too readily invoke violence. We see another surge in a pandemic that has exhausted all of us and taken far too many lives. We see the ticking clock of a climate crisis that must be treated as the emergency it is. It is a time when all of us must ask what we are prepared to do for each other, for our country, for our world.

In such times, we do well to remember those who have come before us – the untold numbers of people who have faced a crisis and had to make a choice about what to do. Do we act with violence or love? Do we flee, or do we show up? In these moments, there are clarion voices that have helped people mobilize around our better angels and highest ideals. Dr. King was one such voice, and there were many others – Bayard Rustin, John Lewis, and Fannie Lou Hamer to name a few.

Their message can guide us now, as surely as it guided people decades ago. To be of service. To stand on the side of love. To show up again and again in the work and struggle of creating the country we all need America to be.

In a typical year, our family goes to the MLK Day March here in Asheville. This year, it’s being held virtually. As we’ve thought about how we can help our kids understand what this day means, we know that it will be about connecting the dots for them between different experiences and how the intention of this day is something we should carry with us each day.

Today, and every day, our fight for justice continues.

In solidarity,

Jasmine