When fear monger Glenn Beck attempted to hijack Dr. Martin Luther King’s seminal moment, the March on Washington, by holding his own rally 47 years later, I imagined how Dr. King would have felt if he were alive to witness it. Here were two of the most divisive public figures, Beck and Sarah Palin, invoking Dr. King after having built their careers off of trying to scare white American into believing that the newly elected Black President intends to destroy everything America stands for. Both have given rise to some of the most racist rhetoric and violent imagery while seemingly wanting America to go back to a time when women had no rights and Black people were slaves. It was then that I wrote a short verse from Dr. King’s prospective about how he would see an America so divided along racial and political lines. Little did I know that in channeling Dr. King, some lines would indeed turn out to be almost prophetic.

I also was inspired by Dr. King when I wrote about the longest war in American history, Afghanistan. Many people believe it was Dr. Kings bold and brave stance against the Vietnam war that lead to his assassination. As we still find ourselves mired in the “New Vietnam” with seemingly no way out, Dr. King’s powerful words sound like they could have been spoken on this very day.