Dr. King in the stacks wondering, “Where you at?”
In this year of 20PLENTY (which I got from my Nigerian-South African Sister, Lovelyn), it’s all about the social media influencer. Nano, micro, mid, macro, mega--sidebar: I want to be a mega influence, so I need at least 1 million followers on Instagram, so follow me if you’re not following me already. And tell all your friends and cousins and aunties and ‘nem, as well!
The key is to not have followers for the sake of having followers. What’s the point of having a million followers if you have nowhere to lead them? That’s one of the many things I admire about Dr. King: is that he had vision and, as we all know, a dream.
“What’s the point of having a million followers if you have nowhere to lead them? ”
Now when I was a kid, I would always see clips of the “I Have a Dream” speech. You remember it. He’s behind the podium, it’s black and white; but there are so many beautiful golden nuggets that go on behind the moment that we don’t even know about. The first golden nugget is that King actually delivered an eerily similar speech when he was 15-years-old for a speech contest in Dublin, GA. So this dream was not a dream that he had the night before. He had been having this dream for decades. In fact, I often look at pictures of a young Dr. King and wonder, “Martin, did you know?” Did you know at 6, 7, 8-years-old that your life, your work, was literally going to change the trajectory of the course of history...did ya know, Martin?
The second golden nugget is something that my womanist-scholar-preacher friends have been lifting up for the past few days: you can tell during the “I Have a Dream” speech where Dr. King takes a moment; and you see him retreat from using his manuscript and start to speak from his heart and let the Spirit lead him. That moment we have thanks to the one and only Mahalia Jackson, who was a trusted confidante and contemporary of Dr. King. And she’s in the back saying, “Tell ‘em about the dream, Martin! Tell ‘em about the dream!” Why? Because he had shared that dream with those closest to him.
Sometimes you have to share your dreams with your inner circle. And, sometimes, they have to remind you about the very dream you told them about originally. That’s why it’s important to keep yourself surrounded with people who, when you’re with them, your soul can “slouch.” You don’t have to pretend or put on a facade or mask, you can just be. Those are BEAUTIFUL relationships and you want to cling to and nurture those. And, as you nurture those relationships, as you nurture your spirit, your mind, your body, your soul, you can start to give more energy and vigor to your dream.
“There is absolutely a right way to dream.”
There are some people who say that there is no right or wrong way to dream. They are incorrect. *dark brown shrug emoji* There is absolutely a right way to dream! Your dream should have three different components. Dr. King was a good Baptist preacher. *I’m* a good Baptist preacher, so we gone have 3 points right here! 😂
Find meaning. Dr. King was a Baptist minister. I’m sure his faith motivated him to do a lot of the work. He was the son of a preacher man, so he would hear about justice and sacred texts, probably around the dinner table. If you are not a person of faith (because every path is valid), what are your ethics? Your morals? Your values? How is your belief system--whatever that may be, feeding into your dream? How do you find meaning, with and beyond your dream?
Serve humanity. And by “humanity,” I mean creatures, Creation/those who are alive. I’m talking about Black people, Black women, people of color, queer folx, trans folx, differently abled folx, poor folx. I’m talking about the most marginalized and vulnerable among us. If your dream only serves people who look like you, sound like you, talk like you, act like you, think like you, you need a new dream. Mmkay? Your dream should serve humanity.
Give life. Beyoncé said, “You know I give you life.” You should know that your dream is giving life. And not just to other people; because if you find meaning and you serve humanity, you WILL bless others. But your dream should also give you life! If you are being pressured into an activity that is draining you, that you have inherited, whether it’s biological, spiritual, or otherwise; if you find yourself trapped in a job or school or situation that you do not enjoy, you need a new dream. Your dream should also give you life.
Because as we walk in our gifts and our talents, we expand love. We expand consciousness. We expand caring and all of the beautiful elements of humanity that would completely overrun the evil, harmful, alarming nature of our country right now. Our country is in shambles. We have children being snatched from their parents, sleeping in literal cages. We have young Black and brown girls being snatched off the street and being sold into human sex trafficking. Y’all...if your dream does not serve outside of your address, you need a new dream.
And it’s time for us to have dreams that are disruptive. Because as much as we like to talk about Dr. King being this amazing leader he also had his moments of shortcoming. He liked to smoke, he loved the ladies, *trigger warning--suicide** he struggled with suicide ideation. There were some shadowy parts to the life and legacy of Dr. King. We have to reckon with the shadowy parts of ourselves. The parts of you that buy in to white supremacy. The parts of you that buy in to sexism. The parts of you that buy in to anti-blackness. The parts of you that want to do a little tap dance and a little two-step with “diversity.”
The term “diversity” has lost its currency. Dr. King was preaching about equality and racial justice, yes, but he was not murdered until he started talking about economic equity. When he was in Memphis, there to help support workers’ rights, that’s when they murdered him. They were like, “Oh, wait a minute...he’s talking about dollars now. He’s talking about mashing up a capitalist system now.” *Queens, NY pose*
“equality is cute, but equity is revolutionary.”
At the end of the day, equality is cute, but equity is revolutionary. My brother, Rev. Earle Fisher, said, “service is cosmetic, but equity is structural.” This should not be a day of service. Dr. King’s day should not be one day out of the 366 days (‘cause it’s a leap year!) of 20PLENTY where you just do community service. Community service is charity. We ought to be doing the work of equity so that we can disrupt a system that allows the most marginalized and vulnerable among us to be continually, institutionally repressed and oppressed, disenfranchised and silenced.
One of my pet peeve sayings is, “You need to be a voice for the voiceless.” *eyeroll emoji* Unless you are physically rendered mute, there is no such thing as a voiceless person. There are silenced people, there are disenfranchised people, there are repressed and suppressed people--so it’s just time to pass the mic.
And what better time to pass the mic, than during this celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. King? Who quiet as it’s kept, was a disruptor. We like to talk about him as non-violent and peaceful and turning the other cheek; no, he was still a threat to the system. So I invite you to be a threat to a system that continually oppresses poor people, Black people, queer people, trans people, Black women. Be a threat to that system.
There’s a Zimbabwean proverb that says, “If you can talk you can sing. If you can walk, you can dance.” Your dreams can dance, but not before they walk.
Be blessed. And happy MLK Day!