While millions of Americans annually celebrate the life, work, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the holiday established in his honor, we will continue to dishonor him, his work, and his legacy if we fail to answer the call to authentic resistance to which he gave his incomparable life—a life in service to us all. As the times grow increasingly darker, particularly amid the brutal neo-fascist reign of Donald Trump, King’s purposeful and sacrificial life summons us to intensify our efforts, progressively and unrelentingly, to engender radical and righteous change—for all. Such Kingian-inspired change has the power to advance genuine repentance, even among colonizers and oppressors who are vehemently opposed to it.
Being a change agent does not require leading an organization, holding elected office, engaging in overtly public work, rushing to the pulpit—as far too many do—or possessing extraordinary skills or knowledge. In “Activism Is Calling You: Fighting for Justice in Dark Times,” published by The Good Men Project, I argued that we all must assume the mantle of radical and righteous activism to defeat the malevolent forces undermining the conditions necessary for “the beloved community” King championed to materialize.
Although a literal “beloved community” may never emerge in America—at least not in a complete physical or institutional sense—that was never the point. King was not governed by false consciousness, nor was he under the illusion that such a community would inevitably manifest on its own. For King, “the beloved community” is a moral and spiritual orientation: a human-centered consciousness, a form of what W.E.B. Du Bois might characterize as a “spiritual striving” toward justice, dignity, and collective action.
My previously mentioned article outlines core values and principles necessary for everyone’s involvement in activism aimed at conquering the enemies of love, truth, equity, and justice. The article, however, does not provide concrete, practical pathways for action, which is one of its primary limitations. This article fills that critical gap. What follows are accessible, actionable ways for people, regardless of status or position, to help generate radical and righteous change.
Don’t Let “Radical” Alarm You
Angela Davis, one of the most fearless radicals in modern history, defined “radical” by returning to its Latin root, radix, meaning “root.” As Davis explains, radical means “grasping things by the root.” Radical and righteous change comprehended through a Kingian lens, therefore, demands honest confrontation with the foundational forces plaguing our nation. Despite narratives of progress since King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, America continues to wrestle with what he identified as “the triple evils”: racism, poverty, and militarism. These evils persist not by accident but by design. They remain central to American life because ruling elites have long been intentional about preserving them—an arrangement traceable to the moment European colonizers arrived, dispossessed Indigenous people of their land, and constructed racial hierarchy as national policy.
If we are to defeat “the triple evils” King resisted until his final breath, we must be willing to confront them at their root. Anything less is a reformist illusion, not a genuine transformation.
Form Liberating Educational Spaces
If an authentic revolution against “the triple evils” is to manifest, liberatory education must function as its nucleus. Trumpism draws its strength from racism, anti-intellectualism, white supremacy, and historical erasure, a dangerous convergence weaponized against all minoritized populations, especially Blacks, LGBTQIA+ folks, and Hispanics.
The consequences of this convergence are now unmistakable. Many of the Hispanics, who almost evenly split their vote between Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, are learning the severe consequences of their vote as they confront intensified Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) home raids and extrajudicial detentions, especially in cities led by Democrats, by masked ICE agents. For many, these practices evoke historical parallels to fugitive slave patrols who terrorized enslaved Blacks.
While it would be desirable for those Hispanics to experience a collective political awakening and join a resistance rooted in liberatory education, we cannot wait for such an epiphany. The fierce urgency of now demands resistance immediately.
How to Form a Liberatory Educational Space
Liberatory educational spaces can—and must—begin at home. As MAGA Republicans are leading coordinated national efforts to ban books that present accurate history and inclusive representation, families are not powerless. Even when these books are removed from schools, nothing stops individuals from building home libraries that safeguard truth and diversity.
Start building a home library one book at a time. Read and purchase books penned by truth-tellers and marginalized voices. Historians such as Howard Zinn, John Henrik Clarke, Annette Gordon-Reed, John Hope Franklin, Gerald Horne, Carol Anderson, Martha S. Jones, Carter G. Woodson, Daina Ramey Berry, Ibram X. Kendi, and so many others should populate your home library.
Through sustained engagement with such scholarship, people can counter the misinformation and disinformation campaigns that intend to sever them from their history. Knowing who you are and where you come from are prerequisites for resisting forces that oppose love, truth, equity, and justice.
Communal Reading, Study, and Learning
No matter how smart one may think he or she is, no one can obtain all necessary knowledge through independent study alone, though independent study is essential. To be victorious against those opposing justice, we must be in community and learn together.
Communal reading and study should include revolutionary thinkers from the past and present, such as Karl Marx, Frantz Fanon, W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cornel West, Fredric Jameson, Herbert Marcuse, Marcus Garvey, Louis Althusser, Antonio Gramsci, Michel Foucault, Rosa Luxemburg, Simone de Beauvoir, Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, James Cone, Howard Thurman, Ernst Bloch, Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Fred Hampton, bell hooks, Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Hannah Arendt, Anna Julia Cooper, and many others.
Such communal study, whether virtual, in-person, or hybrid, can engender strategic knowledge, collective imagination, and harmonious action capable of confronting injustice at scale.
Final Thoughts
Fred Hampton, the former national chairman of the Black Panther Party who was killed during an FBI-coordinated raid, posited that “You can’t build a revolution with no education.” He was right. This revolution must begin in the home, expand into communal spaces, and extend into public life.
Reading revolutionary works fosters revolutionary consciousness—one able to dispel the darkness of our current epoch by allowing love, truth, equity, and justice to overwhelm it. Unshackled, unencumbered collective learning liberates us from the corrosive effects of Trumpism on our national moral and intellectual health.
As we read, study, and organize together, we resist the assault on learning that seeks to replace truth with propaganda. We must stand firm against anti-intellectualism and think the nation anew—activating our minds, hands, voices, and collective will to build an America that works for everyone, not merely for ruling White elites.
A more righteous America will surface when enough of us commit ourselves to King’s “revolution of values” and refuse to let the forces of injustice rest.
If we do not emancipate our minds from mental slavery, we will never realize King’s dream. Therefore, read, study, research, organize, mobilize, and engage in collective revolutionary action to dismantle racism, sexism, poverty, neo-fascism, militarism, imperialism, xenophobia, homophobia, white supremacy, and anti-intellectualism.
Dr. Antonio Maurice Daniels
Johns Hopkins University
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Previously Published on substack
NASA/Bill Ingalls on Wikimedia Public Domain
