We now live in a nation where Martin Luther King Jr's nearly year-old dream is too radical for events supposedly designed to honor his legacy. I wish I were making it up and I fear this is just the beginning. Just two hours before the VA's annual MLK lunch was to begin, Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce, the event's keynote speaker, was told he couldn't discuss diversity, equity and inclusion or anything deemed "politically charged" due to President Donald Trump's executive orders limiting DEI in the federal government.
Boyce rightly backed out of the speech as a result. Department of Veterans Affairs spokesperson Stacia Ruby confirmed to The Columbus Dispatch that the event "honoring" King will be rescheduled without the principles key to King's message — diversity, equity and inclusion. The VA had one thing right: MLK was unapologetically politically charged until the day he was murdered. Don't let the nonviolence label fool you. The truth is that King's message dripped in diversity, equity and inclusion until the day he was killed fighting for worker's rights in Memphis.
His work made America a greater place. Donald Trump's executive orders are a threat. Even one of the most cherished lines from King's most famous speech is among the many topics blacklisted in Donald Trump's greater America. Martin Luther King Jr. We've forgotten that King dreamed because reality was too often a nightmare for women and Black, brown and poor people of all races.
It remains politically charged to say not all American children are treated as humans and have unalienable rights. It remains "too woke" to say not all American children are judged by their merits instead of their skin color.
King's four little children were — and still are — living in a nation where they are judged by the color of their skin and not the content of their characters. Diversity: the representation of all our varied identities and differences e. Equity: seeking to ensure fairness in treatment and access to opportunity, information and resources for all.
