If Dr. King Were Here Today
If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were here today, he would not be impressed by how often his name is repeated. He would be concerned with how carefully his message is edited.
Dr. King spoke of a dream, but he also spoke of systems—economic systems, political systems, and moral systems that shape daily life. He warned that injustice does not disappear with time; it merely adapts. He understood that progress without accountability is fragile, and that comfort has a way of dulling conscience.
Looking at the state of our country today, Dr. King would recognize familiar struggles beneath modern language. He would see inequality normalized, truth contested, and democracy treated as optional rather than essential. He would remind us that nonviolence was never meant to be passive, and that unity without justice is merely quiet disagreement.
Dr. King did not offer his dream as nostalgia. He offered it as a challenge.
And if he were speaking to us now, he might say:
I have a dream that America will learn how to tell the truth about itself—not to punish itself, but to repair itself. A dream where honesty is no longer feared, and where history is faced rather than filtered.
I have a dream that democracy will be treated not as a spectacle, but as a shared responsibility. That voting will be protected as sacred, participation encouraged rather than restricted, and power held accountable to the people it serves.
I have a dream that equality will no longer be celebrated in language while denied in practice. That opportunity will not be inherited by the few, but cultivated for the many, and that justice will be measured by outcomes, not intentions.
I have a dream that nonviolence will be reclaimed as the courageous force it was always meant to be—not a tool to silence protest, but a discipline that demands moral clarity and sustained action.
I have a dream that our children will be taught the full story of this nation—the triumphs and the transgressions—so they may understand that progress has always required courage, sacrifice, and collective resolve.
I have a dream that our institutions—our schools, our churches, our media, and our cultural platforms—will move beyond statements into service, beyond symbolism into structural change.
I have a dream that artists will remain free, educators will remain honest, and young people will remain brave. That creativity will not be reduced to content, and conscience will not be traded for comfort.
I have a dream that economic justice will no longer be dismissed as radical, but recognized as moral. That labor will be honored, dignity protected, and prosperity shared.
I have a dream that we will finally understand that the arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. It bends when ordinary people choose courage over convenience and justice over delay.
Dr. King’s dream was never meant to rest in history.
It was meant to live in us.
-Jarvus Ricardo Hester
