OOTC: Lessons from Dr. King
L. Joy has a question for us, “what line has to be crossed before you believe action from citizens is required?” With everything from journalists being arrested, people being rounded up daily and imprisoned, civil rights violations, many things becoming unaffordable and unsafe daily, to unlawful federal actions happening in real time, nothing is normal. She reminds us that democracy cannot be preserved by waiting for the next election alone bringing this lesson to life through the frame of a keynote address she delivered on MLK Day of Service.
She explains that especially in this climate, inaction of citizens is not neutrality, it is participation. Creating narratives turning leaders into unreachable heroes or perpetrators of harm into monsters, everyday people could absolve themselves of responsibility. L. Joy wants us to visit or revisit foundational texts. Everything from MLK’s Letters from Birmingham Jail to the Constitution, to the Declaration, as well as others, for deeper context to take action at this moment. Although some people see MLK as extraordinary because he was superhuman, she urges us to understand that he was and ordinary man doing the extraordinary because he made deliberate choices over and over and refused to stay silent since time does not deliver justice on its own, people pushing for it does.
L. Joy also makes the distinction between service and justice. Both are needed but they are not the same nor interchangeable. Where service feeds, tutors, supports and the like, justice confronts the systems that produce the harms that create conditions where service is needed in the first place. And to attain justice, we must get comfortable with constructive tension. She emphasizes that discomfort is not harm, order is not peace and disruption through nonviolent direct action is not about chaos or recklessness, it is about creating pressure so negotiation can no longer be avoided. Democracy does not run on autopilot or good intentions. It survives because ordinary people choose to act, especially when action is inconvenient, unpopular, or uncomfortable.
Do Now
Act now: Do not wait for a “hero”. Do not panic, but move with deliberate, grounded participation.
Read foundational texts like On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. It is a short, urgent guide for recognizing authoritarian patterns and responding before it’s too late.
Notice where you are avoiding tension: Is it in your community, workplace, or institutions? Ask what action(s) justice requires instead.