Dear Friends,
Today we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I believe that the best way to honor Dr. King, even in the face of escalating violence and the latest assaults on our democracy, is to reclaim love as a force for justice for a new era.
This will be the first-ever teaching series on how to make revolutionary love our compass as we work toward an anti-racist, equitable, and sustainable future. It is free and open to all, from January 21st to 31st. We’ll explore what it means to be brave with our grief, harness our rage, and reimagine the world from where we are, leading with love. This series is our offering to the People’s Inauguration.
Each morning, I’ll share a teaching with you based on one of the ten core practices of revolutionary love. In the evenings we’ll gather and I will host live conversations with 30 visionaries, faith leaders, movement leaders, artists, and healers including adrienne maree brown, Sister Simone Campbell, Deepa Iyer, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Van Jones, Rev. Otis Moss III, Ai-Jen Poo, Simran Jeet Singh, Baratunde Thurston, Rev. angel Kyodo Williams, and Allie Young. On the final day, our sister Ani DiFranco will join us with a live performance of Revolutionary Love – the song she wrote for us.
I hear Dr. King’s message in the words and work of the visionaries joining me this week. They help us carry forward Dr. King’s legacy today — and invite us to hold up a vision for what our world could be. Let us come together and inspire and embolden each other to continue to labor in love for the world longing to be.
In Chardi Kala — even in darkness, ever-rising joy,
Valarie
What Dr. King Means to Me — Valarie Kaur
drawn from excerpts from SEE NO STRANGER
The first time I really heard Dr. King speak, I was a college student. It was 2003 and the nation was on the brink of war with Iraq. I was still reeling from the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the ensuing hate violence directed at Sikh, Muslim and South Asian American communities.
I showed up one night at an event on campus at Memorial Church. I watched a Black man take the mic and suddenly his voice boomed in my chest and echoed off the stained glass. He was an actor performing selections of King’s writings and speeches from the Vietnam War, but it felt as if King himself was speaking to us here and now from the other side of the grave—the radical King who declared that our real enemies were not individuals but unjust systems, “poverty, racism, and militarism.” For King, nonviolent action was not just a moral imperative but a strategic necessity. I joined my first-ever protest after that speech.
In the nearly two decades that have followed, Dr. King’s words and work have lit the way again and again. As I traveled from sites of hate violence to supermax prisons to Guantánamo and wondered when the “arc of the moral universe” would finally bend toward “justice,” my despair was met by another line from Dr. King: “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”
This idea of continuous struggle inspires the call to “revolutionary love.” I believe that the love ethic can give us longevity in the labor. It focuses our attention on the world that could be — and invites us to live into the beloved community, right here where we are, even as we transition the nation and world as a whole. When we labor in love, the labor can become an end in itself.
In 2017, I had the honor of visiting the Lorraine Hotel and spent a few moments alone standing on the balcony where Dr. King was murdered. I quieted my mind and asked what Dr. King would say to me. The first thing I heard: “I’m here.” And then: “Your people are my people.” I was waiting for something else, some kernel to hold on to, something about how we get to the promised land, or up the mountaintop, anything. But there was nothing but the breeze. And then — I imagined his hand on my shoulder. I closed my eyes and let in his presence, solid and unwavering. I opened my eyes and the moment had passed. “Satnam Waheguru.” I whispered a prayer and touched the ground.
Maybe that’s all we can ask of our ancestors — to feel their absence as a presence, and draw strength from them standing behind us, and let their love make us brave enough to go on.
May we summon the memory of Dr. King today — and let his memory strengthen us to step into this new era together.
3 Ways to Participate in The People’s Inauguration:
1. Tune in to the kick off on January 21st at 9AM PT / 12PM ET at www.thePeoplesInauguration.org. Then watch, listen, and interact with visionaries, faith leaders, civic leaders, artists, educators, and healers while we explore ways to seek justice, heal, and lead with love. Follow along on Instagram and Facebook.
2. Create your own People’s Inauguration event or experience! Bring your friends, family, students, or community together (virtually). Go here for templates to guide you! Post your oath (the text, a video or image of you taking it) on social media with the hashtag #PeoplesInauguration.
3. Join me for the 10-day teaching series, “10 Days to Activate Revolutionary Love” from January 21st to 31st. Watch conversations among the greatest thinkers and healers of our time. Find the inspiration, stories, tools, and practices you need. Discern your role in this era of great transition with love as your compass.