Dr. King and Donald Trump
Fighting for justice on inauguration day and beyond.
In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rented a house in Jamaica with no telephone so that he could write his fourth book without distraction. This book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, ended up being his final one as he was assassinated the following year.
You wouldn’t know it from the widespread admiration Dr. King engenders today, but he was not well liked for the vast majority of his life.
In fact, in 1968, the year of his murder, 75% of Americans disapproved1 of his views and actions. I’ve spoken to folks who were in public places when the news of his murder came out. People clapped and cheered.
That might feel shocking to some of us today, but when you strip away all of the whitewashing, sterilization, and out-of-context quotes, it’s easy to see why he was so disliked. Dr. King was a radical. He was a revolutionary. And along with the other leaders of the Civil Rights movement, he was turning the world upside down in pursuit of justice for all.
His assassination was the last in a long series of violent attacks against Dr. King and his family. I think he knew he only had a short time left, which is why he rented that house in Jamaica and penned what I believe is not only his most important work, but one of the most important books ever written.
My favorite quote from the book:
“Justice, at its best, is love correcting everything that stands against love.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Justice and love are inextricably linked. They are two sides of the same coin, two hinges on the same door.
Cornel West says it like this: “Justice is what love looks like in public.”
Justice is love in action, correcting everything that gets in the way of love.
Let me put it another way.
Do you remember how Jesus replied when he was asked about the most important thing in the world? Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.2
So if justice is “correcting everything that stands against love,” then justice is correcting everything that stands against what Jesus said is the most important thing in the world. Justice is correcting everything that stands against God’s love and God’s plan for the flourishing of all humanity.
When we understand this, it makes perfect sense that justice would be a central theme throughout the Biblical story, talked about hundreds of times in both the Old and New Testaments.
It also makes sense why the prophet Isaiah would say, “The Lord is a God of justice.”3 If God’s desire for humanity is that we all experience abundant love, and injustice is anything which gets in the way of that love, then of course our God is a God of justice.
But we are living in a moment when justice is under attack. Turn on a TV, scroll social media, or listen to prominent political leaders speak and it won’t be long before you hear justice being decried. People use terms like “social justice warrior” and “woke” pejoratively to shame people into not pursuing justice.
In early adulthood, I would have said this makes no sense to me: Why would anyone work against justice? But after spending the last decade learning from leaders of color who have been on the front lines of justice movements, I’ve come to understand this is all very purposeful.
If someone receives money, power, or political gain from injustice, then demonizing justice is the most effective way to ensure the perpetuation of those benefits.
That’s why it’s such a red flag when people say it’s “divisive” to talk about racism, sexism, nationalism, or any other form of injustice, because justice is only divisive to someone benefitting from injustice.
Or, to put it more bluntly, the only people standing against justice are the ones who profit off of injustice.
Which brings us to the present. In just a few hours, the United States will inaugurate our next President, a man who has turned injustice into an art form. In just the past few years, Donald Trump has:
incited an insurrection4
been impeached twice5
been convicted of 34 felonies6
been found guilty of sexual assault7
attempted to overthrow an election8
used his presidency to increase his personal wealth by hundreds of millions of dollars9
promised to use the full power of the federal government, including the military, against anyone who stands in his way10
He also openly mocks people who are disabled11, brags about sexual assault12, falsely accuses migrants of eating household pets13, and has lied over 30,000 times in his first term alone14.
Today America will hand the most powerful position in the world to a man who has spent his life profiting off of injustice, on the same day we supposedly honor a man who lost his life fighting for justice.
And they say irony is dead.
We live in a world where powerful people regularly commit acts of injustice, and I live in a country where we have elected the most egregious perpetrator of injustice as our president. But this is bigger than Donald Trump.
We may not be the ones making laws and creating policies— in fact, we may have voted against the people who are— but we are still responsible for doing justice work. We must not be people who throw in the towel or bury our heads in the sand. We must be people who step up, speak out, and get to work.
I believe this is true for everyone, but it’s especially true for Christians because we have been tasked with being the hands and feet of Jesus. There are so many things in our world standing against love and perpetuating systems of disordered power for the purpose of domination. As Lisa Sharon Harper says, all sin starts with the desire for domination.
As Christians, we are called to stand against those trying to subjugate others as we stand up for justice. I don’t know where God has placed you or what you are being led to do, but I know this: God is calling you to do something.
We can’t do everything, but everyone can do something.
That something looks different for every one of us. You may be called to pray in your room or to protest on the streets, to post something online or have a conversation offline, to write a poem, compose a song, or create a work of art.
Justice work can occur wherever God has placed you and however God has called you. We must be people who have the courage to step into that calling and pursue justice regardless of the cost. As Dr. King said:
“You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be. And one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause; and you refuse to do it because you are afraid. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand. Well, you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90 and the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
You can’t do everything; but you can do something.
And if you’re feeling stuck on how to start, may I suggest engaging with the work of leaders who continue to carry the torch of justice in the spirit of Dr. King. Leaders like Jemar Tisby, Lisa Sharon Harper, Kaitlin Curtice, Father Greg Boyle, Kathy Khang, Latasha Morrison, Shane Claiborne, William J. Barber II, Mark Charles, and Paula Williams. Feel free to list others in the comments below.
We are all in this work together.
Mark 12:30-31
Isaiah 30:18
I didn’t primarily read this as a political post. For me it was about my personal character and my willingness to take a stand when it matters. Growing up in a good ‘Christian,’ and equally important, “Norwegian” (conflict avoidant culture!) home, what mattered was being ‘good.’ What ‘good’ looked like was not rocking the boat, not creating waves. I learned on a soul level, very early on, to be a ‘peacemaker’ at all costs, to ‘submit to your elders.’ The picture you painted here - drawing the parallels between justice and love - is powerful. "Justice is correcting everything that stands against God's love and God's plan" - for life 'on earth as it is in heaven.' Seeing ‘taking a stand’ for justice, equality, inclusion, and respect as an act of LOVE gives me new language and new courage to think about this. Thank you!
I would also recommend reading Across That Bridge and Walking With The Wind by the late Representative John Lewis. He too was an amazing warrior for justice.