WSSN Stories

Media 2070’s award-winning documentary, Black in the Newsroom, continues to screen at film festivals and universities around the nation, spotlighting the inequality many Black reporters face trying to tell the news.

The 17-minute documentary follows Elizabeth Montgomery, a Black journalist who lands her dream job at The Arizona Republic. However, her dream soon becomes a nightmare when her low salary forces her to choose between rent and groceries– while a white colleague is paid thousands of dollars more per year. The documentary sheds light on the lack of diversity in newsrooms and how this can impact Black news reporters and transform the way stories are told:

“When newsrooms are white-dominated and there is not the diversity that reflects the community or that reflects the demographics or the future of this country even, it means that stories aren’t told truthfully,” says Alicia Bell, co-creator of Media 2070.

Montgomery and many Black journalists report struggling with their mental, physical and/or financial health, highlighting a need for change across the industry.

A trailer for the documentary can be found here. Montgomery, Bell and other reporters are available for interviews.

For more information or to request a screening of Media 2070’s Black in the Newsroom, visit https://blackinthenewsroom.com/.

By Barbara Arnwine

I’ve fought for civil rights my entire career. In fact, in honor of my late mother, Vera Pearl Arnwine, I will tell you that my actual birth was amidst a fight for justice and equality to desegregate a White Hospital that refused to service the African Americans in the nearby community.

After being driven past the White hospital during two previous labors, my mom was determined to force change. She purposefully waited until her contractions were advanced and called the ambulance, which seeing her state, took her to the nearest hospital, the White hospital. When the White nurses tried to refuse service, the examining doctor said it was too late and ordered, “We got to deliver this baby.” Thus, my mom defied the “Whites Only” designation and ultimately won as she gave birth to me, the first Black to force the integration of the now closed Seaside Hospital in Long Beach, California.

Being born a “civil rights protest baby” It is no wonder that I went on to graduate from Duke University School of Law and became president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where I served for more than 26 years.

That hospital story, of course relayed to me by my mother, is quite relevant during this season in which we not only celebrate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but we escalate our commemoration of Black History. Now, as founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition, I remain keenly focused on issues of justice from every walk of life.

In 2023, one aspect of civil rights and racial justice that barely remains addressed is racial inclusion in media ownership. It’s high time to irrigate that fallow civil rights ground as America’s access to trusted, credible and diverse local and national news sources is the key to democracy. There is far too much misinformation and non-inclusion out there; especially impacting communities of color.

An article by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, headlined, “The Abysmal State of Media Ownership Diversity in America,” says that “Access to the media by the broadest sector of society is crucial to ensuring that diverse viewpoints are presented to the American people, but racial and gender disparities in media ownership that date back to the beginning of the civil rights era continue to persist. Diverse voices in the media landscape help to ensure that diverse topics and perspectives are presented to counter disinformation and misinformation.”

The article continues, “At a time when more people, particularly Black people, are distrustful of the media, diversity in media ownership has become more important than ever for the functioning of our democracy. Diversity in ownership is part of that solution.”

This crucial issue is the reason that my good friends and colleagues in the current civil rights movement are going on the record in support of Standard General’s application before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to acquire TEGNA, a media company which owns more than 60 television stations across the country. Those colleagues include Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president/CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, president/CEO of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Standard General has a proven record of investing in local news and enhancing diversity with a goal to have newsrooms look like the communities they serve.

Enhancing media diversity is a primary objective at the FCC, but it has a lot of work to do. The FCC just reported that Blacks account for only 3% of majority interests in full-power TV stations with Asian Americans at only 1%. Now it has a chance to really show that it cares about this goal as the Standard General transaction would radically enhance minority media ownership of broadcast channels. Asian-American Soo Kim, Standard General’s Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer, has expressed commitment to helping newsrooms evolve and stay relevant in this age of on-demand content.

One of my primary venues for taking stances on civil rights issues is my 8-year-old radio show, “Igniting Change with Barbara Arnwine,” heard weekly on Tuesdays at Noon on Radio One’s WOL 1450 a.m. During the hour-long show, I have spent much time discussing voter participation and suppression. Based on the questions and concerns expressed by my listeners on the call-in format, it is clear that preserving local news and making it better and more reflective of the changing faces of America will make our democracy stronger and produce more informed voters. We cannot get this done without aggressively irrigating and sowing into the now fallow ground of minority media ownership. This is a goal that we must all share and promote.

Barbara R. Arnwine, Esq, is president & founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition and former president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

By Lou K Coleman-Yeboah

Listen, when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, let him that readeth understand, then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house… And let him that is in the field not turn back. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! For in the days to come shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be… And if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, He is there; believe him not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce. Behold, I have foretold you all things. Take ye heed, watch and pray. What I say unto you I say unto all. [Mark 13].

Wake up! Discern the times. The hour is late! I don’t say that to scare you, but to prepare you. Many of the things that Jesus Himself describe as initial indicators of the last days are happening now. In [Matthew 12], Jesus told us that in the last days there will be people falsely coming in His name, wars and threats of wars, food shortage, earthquakes, and intensified persecution of God’s people, and a mass falling away. And all that Bible Prophecy said would happen, is happening right before our eyes, [Revelation 3:10] and all who are not firmly established upon God’s Word and the righteousness of Jesus Christ will be deceived and overcome. Understand, Satan “works with all power and signs and lying wonders with all deceivableness of unrighteousness” [2 Thessalonians 2:9-10] to gain control of mankind, and his deceptions will increase right up to the very end.

Please surrender your life to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. For we are truly living in the end times now, and as the Bible reveals in [Revelation 12], Satan has come down to this earth with “great fury” knowing that his time is short, and he is using all his power to deceive us and keep us from Jesus Christ.

I tell you; the enemy is approaching! Do not be complacent. We can all see that something is awry in our world. All of the alarm bells are sounding. Even people around the world who don’t understand biblical prophecy can sense something has gone wrong. I admonish you to repent and turn to Jesus Christ before it is too late! Because the final crisis is coming! A man of Lawlessness, the Anti-Christ, the Beast.

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.”(Joel 3:14) Are you saved?

By Jaivon Grant | California Black Media

For some, it may be hard to imagine barely escaping alive from one of the biggest mass genocides in world history, or hearing stories about family members who were the victims of a catastrophe of that magnitude. But for Jewish Americans living in California that scenario is a painful and present truth that they live with, respectfully acknowledging and memorializing it every year.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD), commemorated yearly on January 27, is a memorial day established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005 to honor victims (and their families) who suffered from the German genocide that lasted more than a decade. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the day of commemoration was established for several purposes. Among them are serving as an official date to honor victims of the Nazi regime and promoting Holocaust education worldwide.

In Jewish communities, January 27 is known as Yom HaShoah. Families and communities will often light Yahrzeit candles — Yahrzeit means anniversary (specifically related to someone’s death) — to honor those who were murdered in the Holocaust. The candle burns for 24 hours, and it is custom to light it at sundown on the day before Yom HaShoah. Occasionally, electric Yahrzeit candles are used as a substitute and are plugged into a wall in places like hospitals, for safety reasons.

In Los Angeles, at the Holocaust Museum LA, visitors can see firsthand artifacts that were personal items from survivors and other memorabilia. This museum, founded in 1961, is the oldest survivor-founded Holocaust exhibit in the United States that is solely focused on the impact of the mass genocide. The experience is free for students, and the museum offers tours, educational programs, and conversations with survivors meant to inspire critical thinking and show the Holocaust’s current social relevance.

Morgan Blum Schneider, Director of the Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) Holocaust Center, says that she is dedicated to raising social awareness about Jewish history and inspiring social responsibility.

“The JFCS Holocaust Center was founded by Holocaust survivors through perseverance and determination to fight antisemitism. We continue to share their testimony with thousands of students each year,” said Schneider. “This week, in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and every week throughout the year, the JFCS Holocaust Center works in partnership with CA teachers to bring lessons of the Holocaust and genocide into classrooms throughout California to inspire social responsibility and moral courage in today’s youth.”

The JFCS Holocaust Center is a program of Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties. It holds more than 13,000 books and several thousand documents, photographs, and artifacts in the Tauber Holocaust Library and Archives.

For Brandon Brooks, director of California Black Media’s Stop the Hate Project, it is critical for Californians — and all Americans — to recognize and uplift the experiences and perspectives of their neighbors from other ethnic groups. Funded by the California State Library, the Stop the Hate project aims to eradicate hate crimes and hate incidents in the state and promote inter-cultural understanding and cooperation.

“For Black Americans, the way we identify with the horror stories of the Holocaust is immediate and deeply sympathetic. It is a recognition based, in part, on our own collective memory of slavery, exclusion and suffering because of who we are – not what we did – as a people,” he says. “The only way we, Americans from all backgrounds, can begin to do something about the division, misunderstanding and normalization of racial and ethnic hatred that we see trying to flourish in our society is to fight it by learning; push back on it by listening. Get to know about each other’s histories, celebrate each other’s traditions, embrace the things that unite us as Americans and take a hard, uncompromising stance against hatred in any form and the violence it triggers.”

Notably, the dedication to honoring IHRD extends incredibly far beyond California, where there are an estimated 1.19 million people of Jewish descent (about 3% of the state’s population), based on U.S. Census numbers compiled by World Population Review.

According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, 39 countries participated in IHRD commemorating ceremonies in 2015. Many of those countries hosted lectures, showed films, or lit candles while reading names of the victims. Additionally, many participating countries established their own remembrance days that linked to events caused by the Holocaust.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) — established in 1945 to promote international cooperation through education, science, and culture — has also fought to counter antisemitism and other forms of group-targeted violence.

“The Holocaust profoundly affected countries in which Nazi crimes were perpetrated, with universal implications and consequences in many other parts of the world,” reads the UNESCO site. “As genocide and atrocity crimes keep occurring across several regions, and as we are witnessing a global rise of antisemitism and hate speech, [sharing a collective responsibility] has never been so relevant.”

This California Black Media feature was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

By Kara James, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles Nurse Practitioner

January is National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month and a reminder to continue empowering my patients at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles with information about cervical cancer and its impact on their health.

Every 5 minutes, a woman is diagnosed with one of the five gynecological cancers – cervical, ovarian, uterine/endometrial, vaginal, or vulvar – totaling more than 109,000 Americans each year, according to the Foundation of Women’s Cancer. The common narrative around Black women and cervical cancer is that we are “disproportionately” affected by it. The truth is that cervical cancer is one of the most preventable. Still, because of health care disparities, systemic racism, and long-held inequities, it remains life-threatening for thousands of Black women every year.

Usually diagnosed at later stages due to a variety of factors – including lack of information, misinformation, and mistrust of a historically racist medical system — Black women are twice as likely to lose their lives to cervical cancer as non-Latino white women.  Reproductive oppression and medical mistreatment in Black communities have also played a significant role in dissatisfaction with care, ineffective patient-provider communication, and mistrust in providers.

For many Black women, mistrust of the medical system has been passed down for generations, well into the 21st century. These lived experiences have resulted in a deep wariness of preventive medicine and health screenings, including Pap smears. When discussing Pap smears and vaccines as the path to preventing cervical cancer, I empathize with my patients’ fears. Not only do I educate them about the benefit of regular Pap smears, which can detect abnormal changes in the cervix, but I also explain that cervical cancer is caused by a sexually transmitted infection, human papillomavirus (HPV).

HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, 80% of the population is exposed to this sexually transmitted infection, without symptoms, either in their throat, anus, or vagina. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HPV is estimated to cause nearly 37,300 cases of cancer in men and women every year in the United States. HPV vaccinations could prevent 92.3 percent of these cancer-causing infections.

The HPV vaccine is recommended starting at age 11 or 12, before becoming sexually active, and can be given as a routine vaccination for people up to age 26 and, in some cases, up to 42 years old. Anyone with a cervix should get regularly scheduled Pap smears as recommended by a health care provider.

Through our work at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles’s Black Health Initiative, we provide patient-centered care in a non-judgmental environment. We believe in providing a safe space to come, talk and learn, in simple everyday terms, about cervical cancer, sexual health, and other issues that impact Black communities.

As a Black nurse practitioner who lives, works and educates in Black communities throughout Los Angeles, I hope my presence helps to decrease the anxiety and fear often associated with medical care and empowers Black patients to seek the information and care they need.

For more information on cervical cancer, HPV, and cancer screenings, or to locate a Planned Parenthood health center, visit plannedparenthood.org.  The new year is the perfect time to focus on your health and schedule a checkup. With the HPV vaccine and routine checkups, we can protect our health and that of other Black women in our lives.

Kara James is a Nurse Practitioner with Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, providing trauma-informed direct clinical care to patients since 2015. As an evidenced-based clinician and activist, Kara’s work is framed through racial equity and anti-racism. She also played a vital role in creating the Black Health Initiative in 2020 to promote holistic well-being and health in Los Angeles’ Black communities.

BILL RUSSELL: LEGEND releases globally on Netflix on February 8 and tells the remarkable life and legacy of an NBA superstar and civil rights icon. Made in collaboration with Russell’s estate, this two-part film from award-winning director Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power) features one of Bill’s final interviews before his passing in 2022 as well as interviews with Steph Curry, Chris Paul, “Magic” Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and more.

Off the court, Russell was a force in the fight for human rights — marching with Martin Luther King Jr., leading boycotts in the NBA over racist practices and speaking out against segregation — efforts which earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the clip below (posted on Netflix’s Strong Black Lead IG and Twitter), Bill Russell shares why he chose not to go on-stage with Martin Luther King Jr. at 1963’s March on Washington.

Download: Online Clip | Social Clip | Broadcast Clip | Image

FILM DETAILS:

BILL RUSSELL: LEGEND

RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 8, 2023

DIRECTOR: Sam Pollard

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Larry Gordon, Ross Greenburg, Mike Richardson, Charles Rosenzweig

NARRATOR: Corey Stoll | BILL RUSSELL EXCERPTS READ BY: Jeffrey Wright

The definitive documentary about the life and legacy of NBA legend and civil rights icon Bill Russell from award-winning director Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI).  The film features exclusive interviews with Bill before his passing in 2022 as well as access to his sprawling personal archives. From the humblest of beginnings, Russell went on to lead each and every one of his basketball teams to championships — two back-to-back NCAA titles, a Gold Medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, and 11 championship titles in his thirteen-year career as a Boston Celtic (his last two as the first Black Head Coach in NBA history).  Features interviews with family and friends as well as Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and more.

TidalWave Comics is proud to announce the addition of a comic book focusing on Brittney Griner to its popular “Female Force” series. “Female Force: Brittney Griner” will be released this week.

“Female Force: Brittney Griner” written by Michael Frizell, with art by Martin Gimenez. This 22-page comic book is available digitally and in print and can be found on multiple platforms such as Amazon. The book will be available in softcover and hardcover.

Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner told ESPN, “Don’t worry about what other people are going to say, because they’re always going to say something, but if you’re just true to yourself, let that shine through. Don’t hide who you really are.” Despite personal challenges, her meteoric rise in the WNBA after a storied college hoops career inspires many. But her detainment in Russia for carrying less than a gram of cannabis oil in a vape cartridge through an airport has overshadowed her achievements. Read her inspirational story in this latest installment of “Female Force”.

“We started working on this script before the incident in Russia. My initial approach was to explore her history to show her growth as an athlete and person. I’ve found Brittney’s story fascinating despite not knowing much about the WNBA before I started the research. I hope readers will walk away understanding the person behind the headlines,” said writer Michael Frizell.

“This story is about an athlete who overcame obstacles to become a significant player in the WNBA – not about politics. We started working on this story about four years ago to diversify the line, as we’ve featured several male athletes in past issues. Her development as an athlete, and her struggle with coming to terms with being a gay, black woman, first at a religious college and then in the national spotlight, are the focus of this issue. Since we have 24-pages to tell the story, we used that focus to inform what should be included and what we’d have to leave out. For example, as her story developed, we thought we should add two pages about her arrest in Russia. However, as the artist finished the interiors, a deal was struck with Russian authorities, so we rewrote those two pages to ensure our information was accurate,” said publisher Darren G. Davis “She has an amazing personal story, and we wanted to tell more stories about women in sports. She just happened to be the first. We have plans for women in soccer (football) and more.”

The “Female Force” imprint features prominent and influential authors, business executives, entertainers, journalists, politicians, and activists. The latest biography comic book joins TidalWave’s ever-growing library of more than 200 comic book biographies. — Previous titles have profiled other inspirational women such as Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Gloria Steinem, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey and more.

The biographical comic series has drawn a firestorm of media attention, including features on “The Today Show” CNN, MSNBC, and Sports Illustrated, and in TIME and People magazines.

TidalWave Comics’ vast catalog of titles can also be downloaded digitally from Kindle, iTunes, EPIC!, ComiXology, Global Comics, Google Play, Overdrive, Library Pass, Biblioboard, Nook, Kobo and wherever eBooks are sold.

To download a five-page preview plus the covers for your use in your publication, please credit: TidalWave Productions. Click here for the images: bit.ly/3ZDNdq1

By Lou K Coleman-Yeboah

Do you see the Globalist Agenda, the Global Reset, the Beast System Emerging? Do you see it? The stage is being set for FINAL events but yet again, every seeing but never perceiving, every hearing but never understanding. [Mark 4:12].

Listen, all end-time events that we need to know have been prophesied and record in Scripture for our knowledge and understanding. If we are watchful, we can follow the trend of events recorded in the Bible that are unfolding before our very eyes. Get ready! Get ready! Get ready! Because I tell you, the Mark of the Beast is ALREADY HERE, and things are about to be off the chain. And if you think what’s been happening over the past year, or two or three has been chaos and crazy, prepare for it to get a whole lot crazier and, I ‘m not saying that to induce fear and to instill fear. I’m saying that to prepare you, so it doesn’t catch you off guard. None of this is to induce fear, but to let you know and to make it very, very clear, all hell is about to break loose. Because Biblical End-times Prophecy Unfolding Right Before Our Eyes!

But despite these dark days of doom and gloom that will consume everything we have ever known, there still is an even greater hope for an escape to safety.  The Bible doesn’t just predict the coming horrible events with no purpose—it tells us what is to come to get us to realize that we need an escape route which can save us. This is a call for you to be alert! Eyes wide open. Study each of the end time events – World War 3; the Sixth Trumpet war – [Revelation 9]. The New World Order; the combined kings of the earth in the Last days; – [Daniel 2, Daniel 7, Revelation 13 and 17]. The Confirmation of the Covenant; the signing of a seven-year peace agreement; – [Daniel 9:27].  Rise of the Antichrist and False Prophet to power; – [Daniel 2, 7-12, Revelation 13 and 17]. Jewish temple rebuilt and the Third Temple – [Daniel 9 and 11, 2 Thessalonians 2:4, Matthew 24:15, Revelation 11].

Signs of the Time – [Matthew 24:3-51, 2 Timothy 3:1-9, Luke 17:26-33, Matthew 24:37-39]. Rapture of the Church [1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; Philippians 3:20-21]. Great Tribulation [Matthew 24:21]. Second Coming of Christ – [Revelation 19:11-18, Matthew 24:30], and the Millennium— the 1,000 Year Reign of Jesus Christ on this Earth [Revelation 20:6, Isaiah 65:20–22, Isaiah 11:6-10].

I tell you, it’s time to wake from your slumber. Bible prophecy is unfolding before our very eyes, and things are speeding up very quickly. Heed the signs. Heed the warnings. Give your life to Jesus today… for we truly are in the end times.

By Michael Klitzing

The names J. Luke Wood and Frank Harris III have been inextricably linked for more than a decade. The San Diego State University professors have been fruitful collaborators on research into racial equity in education since 2011 — work they have amplified as co-founders of SDSU’s Community College Equity Assessment Lab.

Now, the duo shares another notable distinction. On Jan. 5, Wood and Harris both appeared in the 2023 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings: 200 U.S. university-based scholars who shape educational practice and policy. The list represents the top 1% of influential education scholars in the nation from a field of over 20,000.

“The people who are on that list are the best in the country in our field — the most well-known, the most widely-cited, the folks’ legislatures and politicians are consulting for advice,” said Harris, a professor in postsecondary educational leadership who also serves as interim associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion in the College of Education.

“I just appreciate being listed among those folks — including Luke.”

Wood ranked No. 48 and Harris No. 163 on the list, compiled annually by Education Week. This ranking uses metrics such as book publishing, article citations and mentions in the media and Congressional Record. In the Curriculum, Instruction and Administration subfield, Wood was ranked No. 10 in the nation.

While 64 universities had at least one ranked scholar, SDSU is one of 32 universities nationwide, and only six in California, with multiple faculty members recognized.

“One of the things that I think we both recognized early on was that you can publish something, but it doesn’t mean that a lot of people are going to see it, and it doesn’t mean that it’s going to impact practice,” said Wood, Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Education at SDSU. “We’ve been able to publish some really good work, but we also do a lot of webinars and policy work to help people tangibly apply it to change lives. I think that we recognize that you have to have that combination. And I think that’s part of why the rankings were where they were for us.”

Wood is also the university’s vice president for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity and chief diversity officer.

In the past year, Harris and Wood have led programming on racial equity for the Association of Community College Trustees and the Community College League of California.

Their research as part of the Black Minds Matter Coalition also inspired a new California law, which went into effect this month, protecting foster youth in suspension and expulsion proceedings. AB 740 was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2022.

They also recently conducted a popular webinar series on racelighting, a phenomenon in which people of color are systematically manipulated into second-guessing their own lived experiences with racism. They collaborated with their partners — San Diego College of Continuing Education president Tina King and SDSU assistant professor Idara Essien — to create a lesson plan on the subject.

“I think it’s important that your work is not just sitting on the shelf,” Harris said. “It’s actually having an impact on what people do and how they serve students and teach students.”

By Jaivon Grant | California Black Media

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. was more than a social activist who, through his strong advocacy and rare brilliance, became America’s most celebrated symbol of racial justice and social progress. He was a symbol of unity, hope, and peace for people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.

He was a gifted student, who enrolled in Atlanta’s Morehouse College at the age of 15, to study medicine and law.

But MLK had no intention of following the path others imagined for him, instead becoming a pastor.

Morehouse president Dr. Benjamin Mays, a strong advocate for racial equality and a renowned theologian, inspired him to join the ministry.

As we celebrate MLK Day — on what would have been his 94th birthday — it’s important to acknowledge what the inspirational civil rights leader did for communities across the United States who face(d) racial discrimination – even today.

Here are 10 quotes from across MLK’s life that represent what he stood for.

1. “I have a dream that one day, this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed… that all men are created equal.”

This quote is culled from perhaps his most memorable speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963. While highlighting the racial injustices that Black Americans faced, MLK reminded the marchers that Jim Crow discrimination had ended legally — but not in practice. It had been nearly a century since the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, but Black Americans were far from being “free,” he proffered.

King advised that those leading the charge on civil rights not let “bitterness and hatred” let their movement “degenerate into physical violence.” He encouraged his followers not to see their White supporters as enemies because Americans from all backgrounds and races need to act in solidarity.

2. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

This is MLK’s call-to-action to take an active role against injustices that are faced in society. Being passive and hoping for the best is no way to fight a problem that will cause exponential damage to the unity that so many civil rights activists have fought to achieve today and onward.

3. “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

Every positive contribution — big or small — counts in the fight towards achieving equality. It’s easy to notice the bigger aspects of an object or idea and miss the smaller pieces that comprise them.

4. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

It takes true mental fortitude to establish trust with a perceived enemy. MLK was encouraging us to look past the negative things that people have done to us. It’s important to consider that even friends commit acts that you do not condone. Friendships are built on acceptance and succeed because of forgiveness between two parties. It is a nearly impossible feat without love in one’s heart.

5. “If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.”

Constantly seeking revenge will inevitably lead to an endless downward spiral of destruction for all who are involved in that dynamic. Within the same speech, King noted that “violence ends by defeating itself.” Rather than destroying enemies, we should give them perspective and understanding.

6. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

When one offense is overlooked somewhere else in the world, it makes it possible for many other injustices to be swept under the rug — especially the ones that affect us directly. For example, it should not take losing a loved one to an act of violence for us to care about everyone’s right to living in a safe community.

7. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

This quote speaks for itself. Perseverance is tested through hardship, not times of peace — and this applies to all aspects of life. Will you be in the trenches when confronted by adversity?

8. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”

King often spoke of having love in one’s heart. In his sermon –mirroring the light-driving-out-darkness metaphor — the civil rights icon expressed that only love could drive out hate. Loving your enemies is the only way to close the rift that separates (and in this case segregates) different racial and ethnic communities.

9. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

Disappointment does not last forever. Eventually, it ends. Despite challenges one faces, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel — when hope is in the heart.

10. “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

No matter how you do it, continue to grow and move towards progress. King preached that non-violence can be achieved. He encouraged his followers, and those who looked up to him, to not give up — press on, no matter how impossible the goal may seem. A little progress is better than none at all.

This California Black Media feature was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.