The Time Is Always Ripe To Do Right
On March 31, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his final Sunday sermon at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. called “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution” four days before he was assassinated. In that sermon, Dr. King declared that a great triple revolution was underway: a technological revolution, a revolution in weaponry, and a human rights revolution. He described the question facing America and asked the congregation to consider at the end of their lives and in the face of history how they will talk in terms of the things they’ve done.
While Dr. King spoke of a different time in our American history, his words sing prophetic in the moment we now find ourselves. Current technology and the rise of social media platforms we use to connect with each other, source information and share it, have revolutionized our social relationships, the way we live, work and learn. Weapons of terror now include the media and technology to share disinformation, incite hate and violence, while undermining scientific facts, truth, and civic institutions. We face a reckoning with racism as a way of life in America, spoken and unspoken, seen and denied, subtle and sometimes not subtle. We continue to battle this disease of racism as we fight a deadly pandemic.
Dr. King’s call to action came with more than a hint of urgency just a few days before his own death:
“It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, ‘Wait on time.’ Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals ... [W]ithout this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. So we must help time and realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”
“There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right”
The 2020 election was one of the most consequential in U.S. history. With the backdrop of racial justice uprisings, a pandemic, and an economic crisis, millions of young people, from all backgrounds, overcame disinformation and other forms of voter suppression, to vote in record numbers. History will undoubtedly show that Millennials and Generation Z played a significant role in determining the outcome of the 2020 election. Young activists’, organizers’ and voters’ impact—especially youth of color—was decisive in key races across the country, including critical states like Arizona and Georgia. While there is no doubt that young people were compelled to join our 245-year experiment in self-government, for many of us, the question of whether we have done enough to support the enduring and robust civic participation of young citizens remains.
For years concerning data reflecting the state of civic engagement among young people: 35% percent of Millennials said they were losing faith in American democracy; 43% of voters nationwide at least somewhat agreed “the Constitution made sense in the 18th century, but it is irrelevant in the 21st century”; when asked about the importance of democracy to American society, only 39% of young adults ages 29 and under said it was “absolutely important”.
In the aftermath of the deadly insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the CivXNow Coalition declared that “...we need to ensure that the civic mission of schools remains at the heart of education. All students must be provided excellent in-depth civic education that equips them with the tools to address the challenges before our nation today from misinformation and polarization to racial injustice. That will require an honest accounting of all aspects of our history—the tremendous ideals espoused in our founding documents along with the ugly failures —so that all students can hear the voices of those who have not traditionally been featured in history books. Civic education is the path toward a constitutional democracy that reflects the very ideals we aspire to: equality and justice.”
“Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability...So we must help time and realize that the time is always ripe to do right”
The violent and seditious actions of January 6th not only require organizations and citizens to condemn the assault on our democratic institutions, they require us to dig deep yet again and commit to protect our enduring yet fragile constitutional democracy by investing in the next generation of citizens. In the words of the late United States Supreme Court Justice and Founder of iCivics, Sandra Day O’Connor, “the practice of democracy is not passed down through the gene pool. It must be taught and learned anew by each generation of citizens”.
The New Jersey Youth Civics Coalition is committed to ensuring that all k-12 students in New Jersey are provided the opportunity for robust, effective and equitable civic education. We are proud to stand with so many committed organizations, educators, students and public officials to ensure that we meet this seminal moment in our nation’s history with a renewed commitment to developing a comprehensive solution to the crisis in civic education. We invite you to join our discussion and work with us on these efforts.
Dr. King closed his final poignant Sunday sermon by recognizing the difficult days ahead but committing not to yield to despair but maintain hope as we march forward.