Poetic Tongues/Fabu
Celebrate Now More Than Ever
In 2026, there is still a federal holiday to nationally celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday on the third Monday in January, a date nearest to when he was born on January 15, 1929. For those of us who remember the terribly long, difficult 32 years it took, until 1983, to make this holiday a reality, it seems ridiculous that this hard-won victory could ever be reversed. All fifty states made it an official holiday in 2000.
Why might a reversal be possible? Since the President’s return to office last year, with his inaugural date on the 2025 Rev. King’s birthday celebration, he has enacted policies and issued executive orders to dismantle and remove references to African American history and honors across federal government websites, museums, and national parks. The President gave Executive orders 1) to end all federal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and removed DEI from government sites, 2) Directing the Smithsonian Institution and national parks to remove anything deemed pro-Black which to him is anti-American, 3) Black Military History erasure, 4) Removing the Woolworth lunch counter that honors the historical sit in against segregation at public places, 5) Firing diversity officers, 6) Banning the Defense Intelligence Agency from cultural celebrations such as Black History Month, and others.
Rev. King Jr.’s national celebration is not merely for an exceptional Black man’s birth, but it is without exaggeration, a countrywide acknowledgment of his leadership principle of peaceful, non-violent, civil disobedience, against the system of injustice of any kind. He could have justified fighting systematic racism with the same violence perpetrated against American-born Blacks. He paid for his heroic leadership with his death while still a young man. His tragic assassination led this country to a confrontation with its color-based evil. I would love to state that racist people’s hearts changed with his 1968 assassination, and because of all the progressive steps forward he caused.
Contemporary times prove for far too many, only the laws changed, but not their hearts. The current reversal of rights for Americans of color is heartbreakingly shocking. Yet the legacy of Rev. King focuses on all human beings’ civil rights; highlights the use of nonviolence as important to promote change; and calls us to engage in community service.
There are more reasons in 2026 to follow the example of Rev. King in caring for our neighbors, resisting injustice and protecting our constitutional rights in the United States. Celebrate this Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday with a deeper understanding and appreciation, even more because his celebration might be threatened in the years to come.