Where Do We Go from Here?

In what would end up being his last book, Martin Luther King, Jr. reflects on his decades long movement work toward racial, economic, and decolonial justice guided by the question: “where do we go from here, chaos or community?”  Like many of us, King found himself at this crossroads question at moment when it was becoming apparent how much deeper the work would need to go to create genuine transformation of individuals and society, even after hard-fought wins like the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.  He begins the book remembering the day that President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, noting that as he writes 2 years later, the initial hope it brought had not come to fruition.  And in fact, discrimination and violence continued, fueled by a powerful “white backlash.”

As a nation, we are navigating similar waters, at the crossroads where some hopeful and powerful movement strides have been made toward racial justice, while we face growing and effective backlash movements.  This month, Dr. Renee Harrison offers a video exploring what King’s responses to this crucial question might have to offer us as we face the days ahead.  Rooted in human dignity, economic repair, and a rejection of imperialist violence, King offered up a vision of grassroots organizing and beloved community-making as a guiding star for just such days as these.

Renee K. Harrison is an Associate Professor of African American and U.S. Religious History at Howard University. She joined the School of Divinity faculty in the fall of 2010.  A native of Los Angeles, California, Dr. Harrison is a retired 11-year veteran of the LAPD and the former executive director of A Leap of Faith Productions, a non-profit community-based theatre group in Los Angeles. She is an artist, poet, and playwright who loves loves loves teaching!