Justice Demands More of Us: Moving for Justice in a Time of Revisionism

On this Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 19, 2026, we find ourselves in a moment that demands truth, courage, and clarity.

This is a year in which the current President of the United States is attempting to rewrite the values and pillars of the Civil Rights Movement going so far as to claim that the movement itself was an act of “reverse racism.” It is a year marked by familiar dog whistles of white supremacy. A year in which we are witnessing the defunding of public education, the erosion of mental health services, and the systematic dismantling of essential institutions that support the affordability, stability, and well-being of the American people.

These are the very institutions, and the very people, Dr. King fought for. And ultimately, these are the causes he died for.

In the final years of his life, Dr. King was not only fighting racism; he was fighting poverty and for economic justice. Not poverty in the abstract, and not only for Black Americans, but for the dignity and equality of poor people everywhere. He understood, deeply and prophetically, that racism and economic injustice are inseparable and that for any of us to be well, all of us must be able to live well.

We must be able to afford housing.

We must be able to access healthcare.

We must be able to buy groceries and feed our families.

The lack of affordability in our society is due in part to racism, but more broadly, it is the result of a deeply entrenched wealth gap that leaves more people living below the poverty line than ever before. This gap disproportionately impacts Black people and people of color.

Today, we hear the word affordability everywhere. Americans across race, region, and background are saying the same thing: we want to be able to afford to live. As families struggle to pay rent, access healthcare, insure their lives, and get their children to school, a quiet but powerful realization is taking hold: this world was not designed for most of us.

That realization echoes exactly what Dr. King was fighting for.

Do not be fooled. When this administration leans into rhetoric around race and stokes division through coded language and dog whistles, it is not accidental. It is strategic. Division by race keeps us from uniting around our shared and overlapping interests which is the simple, radical right to live with dignity. Because if we were united around that truth, our collective power would be undeniable.

And that is precisely why Dr. King is no longer with us.

So on this Dr. King Day, I urge you to move beyond soundbites and comfortable quotes, stripped of their context. Instead, I ask you to sit with a deeper question:

What does it truly mean to move for justice?

Every person has a right to eat.

Every person has a right to affordable housing, healthcare, good education and transportation.

Yet we live in a society where these basic rights are accessible only to a select few—and that is not a coincidence. It is by design.

So today, I ask you:

How are you moving for justice?

How are you moving toward a world that is affordable for all?

And how are you moving toward a future grounded in love, equity, equality, and peace for every single person?

That is the unfinished work of Dr. King. And it is ours to carry forward.

About Dr. Carter

Dr. Leeja Carter is the CEO & found of the Coalition for Food & Health Equity, a Fulbright Scholar, feminist changemaker, and expert on inclusive and equity-focused practice in health and wellness.

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