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Dr. King said, “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”
As I reflect on the fierce urgency of now while we live with the longest US government shutdown in our country’s history and a teachers’ strike in the nation’s second-largest school district, the civil rights movement and the lives of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King in particular, give me comfort, inspiration, and optimism. Today, I want to talk about three things: legacy, the Unfinished Obelisk, and a few timely lessons we can learn from Coretta Scott King about the legacy of her husband.
Legacy is what is passed down from our predecessors and what we pass down to future generations. Legacy can be cultural, spiritual, or physical—tangible or intangible—and also historical, as in historical trauma or the historical knowledge that we are strong beyond measure.
Now, I want to talk to you about the legacy of the Unfinished Obelisk. This winter, I went to Egypt with my family. We visited relatives and ancient temples that testify to our African ingenuity, power, and refined culture. The first antiquity we saw was the Unfinished Obelisk, commissioned by Queen Hatshepsut. It resides in Aswan, about 860 kilometers south of Cairo. It would’ve been the tallest and largest obelisk in existence, but as the masons polished and smoothed it, the granite revealed a huge crack. So, they abandoned it. It was never finished. Now, 3,500 years later, this incomplete effort—which would have undoubtedly been viewed by the Queen and the builders as a disappointing failure—reveals to us more than any others how the ancient Egyptians excavated and erected obelisks.
Seeing the Unfinished Obelisk, my husband commented that we all have metaphoric, unfinished obelisks in our lives. This incomplete work reminds us that our own ‘unfinished obelisks’—our failures, our setbacks, and the work that we leave incomplete—can still transmit instructive lessons. They’re not wasted efforts but guidance for future generations.
For those who dedicate our lives to positive social change, as Dr. King did, it’s particularly important to remember: though some of our most important work may remain undone and some of our efforts may seem to fall short, Dr. King reminds us that the arc of history is long and bends toward justice. Our big, bold unfinished obelisks may yet hold secrets, unlock mysteries, and solve problems for those who come after us.
Lastly, there are a few timely lessons we can learn from Coretta Scott King. No one besides Dr. King himself deserves as much credit for keeping his legacy alive for future generations. She is the reason we celebrate his birthday as a national holiday. She is responsible for founding the King Center, an institution dedicated to advancing and promoting core values of the civil-rights struggle and nonviolent direct action. Coretta Scott King’s tireless efforts after Dr. King’s assassination remind us that no one person—no matter how exceptional—is solely responsible for the legacies we leave. Legacies are the work of the collective—they live on in the parts of the story we share and the parts we ignore. Only by seeing Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party, and the work of so many unnamed others in the context of their historical moment can we begin to more fully understand the impact of Dr. King and the broader struggle for social and racial equality.
While we struggle to maintain ground we’ve gained and resist human rights violations and assaults on our dignity, the Kings remind us, in the words of Audre Lorde, that “there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle.” Their sophisticated movement work was grounded in an understanding of people’s lives. Part of King’s stance against the war in Vietnam was rooted in his commitment to nonviolence, but he also clearly stated that a protracted war would suck up the resources urgently needed to alleviate suffering and lack of opportunity in "the ghettos." Coretta Scott King, early on, integrated women’s rights and LGBT rights into her work. With so many structural and systemic injustices in need of our advocacy today, the Kings remind us that it is essential to build solidarity across movements.
Finally, Dr. King and Coretta Scott King leave us a model of principled, passionate dissent. They show us that we can commit ourselves to the highest ideals of fairness, justice, and equality during times in need of great change, and do so without name-calling, without ‘othering,’ and without ever wavering from the values of human dignity and solidarity. Dr. King reminds us that if we do not protect a space for respectful and legitimate dissent and disagreement with the policies and practices of our nation, democracy in America will descend into a very dark place.
Thank you.
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