Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Already Showed Us How To Be An Anti-Racist.

By: Brittany Talissa King

It’s been eight years since the first #BlackLivesMatter hashtag was tweeted after George Zimmerman’s acquittal. And five years since Donald Trump coined the phrase, “Make America Great Again.” And in 2020, these two mantras historically clashed in the midst of one of our deadliest years. Where the coronavirus not only affected millions of lives but took over 400,000 Americans. Then after George Floyd’s death (one of the most merciless recorded incidents of police-brutality since Rodney King), protests showered the globe where millions chanted “Black Lives Matter” — -taking over the streets and internet. And as these demonstrations grew in America, another movement voiced their narrative with Trump-Train rallies, “Keep America Great” events, and #BlueLivesMatter hashtags — -both causing a novel collusion even during a pandemic.

But for decades, there have historically been two POVs at odds with how America should be. And the 21st-century versions of these polarizing ends — -became dangerously close to rivaling the racial violence from the ’50s and ’60s. The most overt examples were over this summer, where peaceful protests were overshadowed by riots. Where supporters of the 45th president countered-protested justice demonstrations. And anti-president supporters intimidated “Patriots” for backing the police. Where a vigilante shot two Los Angeles officers in their police car, and a “traditionalist” teenager murdered two “progressive” men in Kenosha. And then, in January, where a vicious mob invaded the U.S. Capitol building in revenge of a “stolen election.”

And depending on your stance, one might see the Portland riots as the language of the unheard, or terrorists destroying the nation. In the same vein, one might view the Capitol invasion as “patriotic,” while others view it as the highest form of American treason. One POV believes America needs to atone for its racial sins. The other thinks America has “always been great.” And this, quite obviously, reveals that two stark realities are dividing the United States.

Before I move forward, it will be unproductive to continue with a possible misunderstanding that I’m trying to further polarize these sides. That I aim to saturate the binary line separating…