Awaken to the Hope He Had
In her January 18, 2026, Letters from an American, the brilliant Heather Cox Richardson (one of my role models) wrote that Dr. King said that he “felt blessed to live in an era when people had finally woken up and were working together for freedom and economic justice.”
Woken up. Woke. That stopped me in my tracks: Woke is such a pejorative to people on the right. But why? To awaken means to see the light of a new day, and a new way of thinking, and yes, of hope for a brighter tomorrow—for everyone.
Martin Luther King, Jr. had every reason to be disillusioned with America. The Civil War and Lincoln had freed the slaves over 100 years before, but racial prejudice and discrimination raged throughout the country; still, he had hope. He wrote, and HCR quotes, “ But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.”
He knew there was danger all around him–he spoke these words in Memphis on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated–and he had a foreboding that great people seem to all have, stating, “ I have seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”
Profound. Sad. Hopeful.
As we reflect on the legacy of Dr. King, may we all find that optimism, that hope, that ALL Americans will awaken to the promised land of what our founding fathers saw for our country. We have so much more in common than in what separates us. Let us find that love–for country and each other–that will lead us to prosper over the next 250 years.