Reclaim Rev. King’s Dream, Repair What Has Been Broken

A Recommittal to Build Anew

After a restless and tumultuous midterm election year, we entered 2023 with bated breath and anxiety over what is to come. The initial days of this 118th Congress provided negligible relief. Four days of disputatious debate and back-room negotiations making international headlines, demonstrations of ineffective leadership, and stirring spectacles of brute disputes in the House chamber were newsworthy manifestations of similar occurrences on the local, state and federal level that we have seen for too many years to count. Not to mention remembering January 6th, the insurrection’s aftereffects, investigation, and repudiation thereof. Politically, these past 16 days have been a whirlwind, and we have 349 to go.

One of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s final socio-theological inquiries remains with us nearly 55 years after his ascent to the ancestral realm. “Where do we go from here: chaos or community?” This decades-long question needs a robust, faith-filled response THIS year. Ourselves, our children, and the whole of Creation deserve it. Future generations depend on it.

Beyond Rev. King’s Civil Rights movement accolades, and even beyond his consistently brilliant articulation and yearning for the church and society to realize what it means to truly be the “Beloved Community,” he helped us to understand more fully the essence of human dignity and worth, and the importance for these to be enacted among all of us if we will ever be all that God calls us to be.

The sacred interconnectedness of our diversely complicated existences cannot be ignored. Our nation and “world house” are in peril. The inescapable mutuality of our problems and robust solutions to resolve them for our destiny’s sake must be a priority. This holiday is not just to be a means for rest, but a day of remembrance and service towards that end. Moreover, we must not be so distracted and dismayed by the antics of this and previous years to forget the many accomplishments of yesteryear.

Some of the accomplishments towards building the “Beloved Community” include: 

Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act meant to curb inflation by reducing the deficit, lowering prescription drug prices, and investing into domestic energy production while promoting clean energy. Enactment of a  $1.2 trillion infrastructure package which drastically increased investment in the national network of bridges and roads, airports, public transport, national broadband internet, as well as waterways and energy systems. President Biden appointing the highest number of federal judges since Reagan. Re-joining the international Paris Climate Accord, which President Trump had parted ways with, allowing the U.S. to restart and improve its commitment to combatting climate change, working with global players to thwart the climate’s deterioration. We cannot forget that President Biden started his term signing into law the American Rescue Plan. The law kept millions of families housed while Covid-19 ravaged the country. The list of legislative accomplishments goes on, and none could have been possible without your commitment to the practice of caring for those people and families too often judged as “the least of these.” Reflecting on these achievements must refuel our fervor for faithful advocacy.

As we look forward to future acts of making Justice possible by the works of our hands, feet, and voices, we must recommit to repairing what has been broken through an unwavering recommitment to build anew. While NETWORK remains steadfast to the prevailing priorities of social justice and racial equity, our policy advocacy is rooted in repairing what has been broken since the Doctrine of Discovery was signed, for the benefit of future generations that will follow. We welcome your collaboration on ending poverty and a progressive pursuit of reparations, repairing and strengthening the Voting Rights Act, and advancing robust criminal legal system reforms. Your participation in working to eliminate hunger and houselessness, assuring that labor is not in vain and equitably compensated, guaranteeing the “more than haves” pay their fair share into our nation’s support systems to adequately care for those who have not, and more!

Rev. Dr. King’s legacy proclaims, “We are now making the choices which will determine whether we can achieve these goals in forthcoming decades. We cannot afford to make these choices poorly.” We are now making the choices which will determine whether we can achieve these goals in forthcoming decades. We cannot afford to make these choices poorly.

We can do better! Our existence demands we must do better! Will you journey with us until we realize what Brother Martin saw on the Mountain Top?