Not since 2005 had Christmas and the start of Hanukkah fallen on the same day. The significance of that coincidence happening this past holiday was not lost on many faith observers. Normally after Christmas the usual ‘small talk’ children have with others is “what did Santa get you?” While that question has been long answered by now, there’re some bigger questions that America needs to have front and center. There’s also the coincidence of Inauguration falling on MLK Day.
Since it’s the start of a new year to build on vision, there’re probably some action items you’re turning into goals. To make them a reality will take steady effort and maybe even probing insight. That’s where we find ourselves as a nation too as we ponder what presidential inauguration, civics and American values should mean during this season of D.C. makeover. There’s probably a steady effort underway to get folks in place. But what about the probing insight needed to make sure America rises to the occasion of the Constitution and its goals? Meanwhile, there’s a shake-up happening in social media and traditional media. Not enough time to get into it here, but for clues we gotta go back to America’s second President John Adams.
Following the pre-amble’s first few words of “We the people in order to form a more perfect Union”, comes these two words: “establish justice”. As SAIC is known for, we’ve done a deep dive in American history, the ‘Black to America’ story, and #HometownStrong comebacks for some probing insight. The founders wanted to establish justice as a nation because there was a sense of unfairness from the British throne. But America’s history has also seen a focus on ‘social justice’ in response to those experiencing the feeling of denial. There’s been equality denial, voting rights denial, opportunity denial, climate change denial, and more recently, election denial as well as DEI & truth denial. Dr. King understood this social justice element when he said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Just to recap, those ‘threads of denial’ led to different moments in history. They’ve played a role in America’s tug-of-war between two sides: life, liberty and happiness vs hate, grievance and divisiveness. Plus, throughout history we’ve had moments of major ‘public lies’ that caused Americans to make decisions based on deception and not destiny. These ‘lies’ included the three-fifths clause, Supreme Court decision on Dred Scott as well as Plessy vs Ferguson ruling on ‘separate but equal’, and more recently, disinformation about the 2020 election results. It’s important to share these not simply to cry foul, but to remind us that history is like a ‘civics bible’, the more we apply it the better we’ll handle life’s issues.
Dr. King encouraged us as a nation to choose the path that led to a higher destiny of community in the same way that SAIC offers a path for a higher level of citizenship. When King wrote the book “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” there was a stretch between 1963 and 1968 that holds some relevance to the past five years. What could have caused him to go from his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech to his ‘Mountaintop’ speech five years later where he said, “The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around.” Well, we might add a new subtext to King’s book title with the words “What’s America Missing?” If we had to interpret King’s dream and make it relevant to here and now, what might our 2025 goals (and beyond) as a nation look like? Maybe we should first revisit “Out of Many, One” and reset around how we “Empower Many, as One” to:
1. Build your Quad/Squad
In the ‘here & now’ Dr. King could rattle off some quick points of concern. He might suggest that some parts of ‘The Church’ has lost their high ground. He might emphasize that we need a new social consciousness mindset with education and civic action as two sides of the coin of economic/social impact. His dream might point to a newer sense of urgency for how we build our quad/squad so that America’s unresolved trauma, unresolved truths and unresolved trust don’t spread even further like wildfire. As with computers, when truth is lost, we end up in an error condition or major system failure.
2. Build your Brand
In the new year as companies announce that they’re rolling back certain initiatives, many are wondering, what does that mean for the ‘pace of change’? In civic life W.E.B. Dubois talked about us having a double consciousness of how we see America and how America sees us. Well in business there’s the idea of having a ‘double bottom line’ in how you make money and make a difference. Those in biz know that as you build your brand and attract customers, you’ve gotta do things even when it’s not ‘popular’. Similarly, to build success you gotta do some things that aren’t always convenient or ‘trending’ at the time.
3. Build Your Block
When “Out of Many, One” was adopted in the early days it served as a mantra in going from 13 colonies to become the United States of America. Back then there weren’t any political parties, just folks operating with the idea of “hearts & homes for America.” If we’re gonna “empower many, as one” we gotta empower many families as one, many communities as one, even ‘We the People’ as one. To get there, we’ve gotta put civics in the driver’s seat. With politics we tend to see a push/pull between money and power. With civics we get to be inspired by a push/pull between people and progress, between ideals and innovations.
4. Build Your Cred
What’s it gonna take to build more cred as a nation and level-up our Union? To begin answering the question “what’s America missing”? we need a model to connect the dots across history, civics and culture. Plus, maybe America needs a new mojo in our game, culture needs a new lingo to explain things and families need a new go-to for not repeating same-old-same. In sports, momentum rules the day. Teams can have similar records and somewhat equal talent, but it’s in how they bring juice, magic and charm that things click as mojo. Similarly, we can build our cred by how we deliver more #MojoInAmerica.
At Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s inauguration he said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. There’s a certain kinda fear that’s hovering over the nation in this season of political makeover. Dr. King as a Baptist preacher might use scripture to remind us that “God didn’t give us a spirit of fear. But of power, love and a sound mind”. In this new period of civic engagement, let’s build King’s dreams and our purpose in speaking truth to power, operating in love with one another and maintaining a sound mind. Every kinda people make the world go ‘round and ‘We the People’ keep America moving towards destiny.
Chime-in on impacting Democracy & Public Good, Education & Community or Entrepreneurship & American Dream, ‘Civic Mondays’ events or Civics & Community forums. Plus,you can “J.A.M. With Us” (join a movement) in civic engagement, social change and community life. Checkout the Signup Center below.
Tracks: One Republic – Better Days – https://youtu.be/dbUI7JfHxLc?si=2BvAy-E-pbIILi7i
NF – Hope – https://youtu.be/YUdkYx9WH9k?si=eHvA_Zf1LeENndCg
Signup Center
See America In Color 