This King Day, Memphis is once again at a crossroads. The policies shaping our schools, our streets, and our democracy reflect deeper, prejudiced beliefs about who does and does not deserve freedom.
In his speech honoring Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke clearly about how oppression is sustained through false narratives that portray Black people and Black communities as inferior, incapable, or undeserving of full freedom. When those lies take hold, harm becomes easier to justify, and democracy becomes easier to dismantle.
Too many of our elected officials are acting on those lies today, and here in Memphis, we are living with the consequences.
In moments like this, we don’t just need reflection; we need places to connect with each other and turn shared outrage into people power. That’s why we’re holding the 3rd annual Memphis Power Summit on March 14 – RSVP to save your spot today!
The expanded and increasingly aggressive use of law enforcement, federal agents, National Guard troops, and ICE to police daily life – combined with the parallel push to take over our public schools, expand vouchers, and override local voters – are rooted in the same misguided belief: majority-Black Memphis must be controlled rather than trusted. This worldview treats our people as problems to be managed, not as a beloved community worthy of investment, dignity, and self-determination.
But we don’t have to simply accept this reality. The struggle for liberation has endured for generations, and it continues because injustice has never gone unanswered. Like Dr. King said, “It is not enough for people to be angry—the supreme task is to organize and unite people so that their anger becomes a transforming force.” That truth feels especially urgent now.
So we’ll march, organize, gather, strategize, and act… all while we remain dissatisfied with the status quo; or as Baldwin said, “in a rage almost all the time.” We must stay dissatisfied, until everyone has what they need not only to survive, but to thrive. We must refuse to accept the lies that keep Memphis under-resourced and over-policed.
What we are living through is not inevitable. When we organize, unite across communities, and invest in collective leadership, we create the conditions for change.
We must commit to building and expressing power together, because that is the way that we transform the centuries old systems that surround us.
This King Day, we invite you to be part of that work. Join us at the Memphis Power Summit on March 14, where community members, organizers, and advocates will come together to channel anger into action, build skills, deepen relationships, and strengthen the people power needed for the road ahead.
