By Adam Hettler
We are now a year into the Trump/Pence presidency nightmare. Our society is continuing to creep toward an all-out dictatorship. The Muslim ban is more or less intact. Immigrants are being detained and deported by an ever-more-fascist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Department of Justice is reinstating a shameful racialized drug enforcement policy. Trump and Pence are actively working to strip away women’s rights and Trump was the first President to speak at the march for life. Anti-LGBTQ sentiment is being amplified by our executive branch and Trump’s twitter account. Trump is continuing suicidal assaults on the environment only to profit fossil fuel executives. We are increasing our already unjustified military presence in at least seven countries, with threats of nuclear war in at least two countries. The commander-in-chief continues to decry dissent and protest, cheered on by his followers. Finally, Trump and his allies are attempting to undermine the very rule of law that tenuously holds this country together. As various communities continue to struggle against these relentless assaults, I find myself seeking guidance as I resist and grow as an opponent to injustice.
I’ve been reading The Trumpet of Conscience, the final book of essays from Martin Luther King, Jr., to learn from his opinions on enacting change, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. In reading his essays and speeches, I have come to deeply respect his courage in speaking truth in the face of violent opposition, as well as his unwavering faith in the power of hope and love. I admire his commitment to the continuous struggle for the humanity of all people of the world. He has convinced me of the power and the necessity of civil-disobedience to challenge injustice. As I read his words, I find myself imagining his interpretation of America today. I feel confident that, if he were still alive, his voice would boom out in a call for massive non-violent campaigns to halt this creep toward authoritarianism.
As I was reading, I found inspiration in some passages he wrote about the necessity of people to go outside the normal channels in order to deal with a humanitarian crisis. In his essay “Non-violence and Social Change,” King states:
“There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a fire is raging, the fire truck goes right through that red light, and normal traffic had better get out of its way. Or, when a man is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed.
There is a fire raging now for the Negroes and the poor of this society. …They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergence is solved.
Massive civil disobedience is a strategy for social change which is at least as forceful as an ambulance with its siren on full.”
Can anyone deny the fire raging today in America?
King goes on to describe the actions in Birmingham and Selma, where thousands of protesters created a “dramatic crisis,” that eventually forced the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. What I found most enlightening was that although there were legal recommendations ready to challenge racial inequities, nothing was being done. King recalled, “We went knowing that the Civil Rights Commission had written powerful documents calling for change, calling for the very rights we were demanding. But nobody did anything about the Commission´s report. Nothing was done until we acted on these very issues, and demonstrated before the court of world opinion the urgent need for change.”
Additionally, King spoke about the righteousness of the struggle, and the need for thousands to proudly create a peaceful disruption. He said:
“There must be more than a statement to the larger society, there must be a force that interrupts its functioning at some key point. That interruption must not, however, be clandestine or surreptitious. It is not necessary to invest it with guerrilla romanticism. It must be open and, above all, conducted by large masses without violence. If the jails are filled to thwart it, its meaning will become even clear.”
What’s happening today under the Trump/Pence regime is not totally new, but it is a violent reassertion of atrocities that have occurred in this country since its founding. This regime wants to undo all of the social progress of the civil rights era, going back to the days of Jim Crow white supremacy. Additionally, our country is doing the exact opposite of what the climate crisis calls for, which poses an existential threat to life on earth. It is nothing less than an emergency, and we have to run through a red light to stop it.
I, personally, can no longer stay silent. I implore people of conscience to join Refuse Fascism in our call to drive out this fascist regime before any more lives are ruined or lost and before we cause irreparable harm to the planet we call home. The opportunity for dissent may be gone sooner than we think. Given all that was sacrificed by King and his fellow civil-rights advocates, it is our duty to stand against the growing injustices. There are numerous inspiring protest movements that are fighting back against the different injustices intensifying under this regime. If we unite and amplify our efforts against this common foe which is threatening so many lives, we will honor and enact King’s legacy to create a better world. We, as citizens of the world, have inherited the call to stand for all the people of the world from those who came before us and gave their lives to the struggle. Be not afraid, for we stand on the right side of history. But we must be willing to sacrifice, risk our comfort and stability, and work together to end this nightmare.
Once in a while, historic events emerge that require more from us. Decades ago, about the Vietnam War, King said, “We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.” Our present moment calls for nothing less.