MLK Day: Courage and compassion

Today, MLK Day and Inauguration Day coincide, something that will only happen on rare occasions. The latter will get most headlines and focus today, but I’m going to focus on the former.

Martin Luther King, Jr stood for and lived the values of equity, justice, courage, nonviolence, compassion, integrity and service.

When MLK led a movement of nonviolent civil action seeking to achieve civil rights for all in the U.S., Blacks were treated as second-class citizens in the U.S. and disparities abounded in treatment and rights for numerous groups - including women, LGBTQ people and immigrants. And though huge injustices and disparities still exist, there has been great progress on many fronts.

Today, though, there are renewed threats to civil rights, in the U.S. and around the world.

Kindness and courage are not as readily plentiful as we need. Stories abound of people being targeted with mean taunts, retaliation against their business, even violence - due to being women, being LGBTQ, their religion, their skin color, their country of origin, their language, their accent and for opposing the president-elect and/or his policies.

Almost all of us know the famous quote by MLK, Jr: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

It is incumbent upon us all to vocally, consistently and publicly speak and act in support of not just our own rights but those of our neighbors. Most especially on those of us who belong to more privileged groups and face less bias and marginalization.

Treating others with compassion is never out of style. If we can keep courage and compassion top of mind in our interactions with others, we can steer closer to the vision of the world that MLK Jr. espoused. It won’t be easy, not when it goes against too many of those in power, but it is needed and it can make a difference.

Fun footnote of the week

Not nearly as important as other events of the day, but I am a University of Notre Dame grad: today is the National Championship College Football Game and Notre Dame is playing Ohio State. Coach Marcus Freeman, whose father is Black and mother Korean, is both the first Black and first Asian-American person to be the head coach in a national championship football game. Of the 15 winningest FBS football programs, only five have ever hired a Black head coach. Freeman will make history by coaching in tonight’s game, and he can make even more history if Notre Dame wins. Go Irish!