Yesterday, we honored the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. both locally and across the nation. Numerous people took to social media to post quotes from the civil rights icon, banks were closed, county and municipal offices were closed, and many people had the day off from work and school.
Today, however, it’s just another Tuesday. But shouldn’t we live the tenets of Dr. King’s dream year-round? His most famous speech should be remembered — and carried out — for centuries to come, yet, all too often, we don’t live the way Dr. King would have envisioned, do we?
He said in 1963: “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’ But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”
Now, more than 60 years later, his words still ring true. Because if we’re completely honest, we know that “the unalienable rights” in the Constitution only apply to some of our population, some of the time. Even today, in 2026, we know some people across this nation are targeted because they have a certain skin color, speak with a certain accent, dare to live according to their “unalienable rights.”
We think it’s fair to say Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be appalled at some of the things happening in our cities in 2026 … not surprised, perhaps, because of the things he witnessed and endured in his lifetime, but disappointed nonetheless.
True, we have reached a place where some Black people in America are able to pursue their dreams fearlessly, but they still have to work harder and smarter to be treated the same as their white counterparts. Whatever steps we made toward progress with diversity programs have been almost completely undone. There has even been talk in some states of re-implementing segregated schools.
We have come so far since the Civil Rights Movement; we even elected a Black president. But now, it feels like we’ve taken a hundred steps backward with regards to how we treat people, especially those of color. No one in the United States of America should feel fearful of making their voice heard, of going about their daily lives, of standing up for what they believe is right.
We are fortunate in Sampson County to have grown exponentially from the years of gross injustice and prejudice that existed for so long across our country. While we are far from perfect, we are more apt to be bridge builders than stone-throwers, trying to look beyond our differences to find commonalities that allow us to work together for the betterment of our community.
It is only when we join together that we will live Dr. King’s dream. “And when this happens,” he said, “when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”
It is only through hope and faith that this dream can be realized, not through violence and strife. We encourage you to do whatever you can to realize the true freedom this country can offer, for everyone who sets foot on this sacred land.
God bless America.