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Buckeyeblue

(6,233 posts)
2. MLK's essay struck me a little differently this year
Mon Jan 19, 2026, 10:18 AM
Monday

I had always thought more about the context of it in the early 1960's and a young MLK making the case that people shouldn't have to "wait" for their oppressors to decide not to oppress them, that the time was now and the time to stop oppression would always be now.

But what really stood out more on this mornings reading was the demand for dignity, the impact of oppression on one's dignity. King almost seems to be saying I can't change your heart but I will make you treat me as an equal under the law.

I think about how Trump's main approach is to first rob people if their dignity. ICE isn't about immigration enforcement. It's about dehumanizing people. Stripping people of their dignity, of their personhood by pulling them from their houses in the middle of the night, ripping them from their cars, threats, excessive force, a killing here and there. Trumpism is about robbing people of their basic dignity. It's really evil in a very pure form.

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