MLK Day is a day for transformative action

OPINION: By living a life of service — starting this MLK Day, we can create lasting change that will benefit our communities and democracy for years to come.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

Six decades after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the March on Washington, our nation continues to witness attempts to dismantle hard-fought rights and the very institutions that support our democracy. And while some may say that we are more divided than ever, as CEO of AmeriCorps, I’ve had the opportunity to witness the opposite. I’ve seen how service is the heartbeat of our democracy and builds bridges where divisions threaten to tear us apart.

Dr. King once preached, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” 

Each year on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, we have the opportunity to show the world that service is love in action. Even more, it is democracy in action. Serving together, and serving each other, enables us to see each other’s humanity. It illuminates that great indisputable truth: what we have in common is stronger than what we don’t.

Led by AmeriCorps in partnership with the King Family, the MLK Day of Service provides an opportunity to act on Dr. King’s “fierce urgency of now” and deliver on the promise of a “beloved community” — a society where hunger, poverty, violence, and racism cease to exist. Service holds tremendous power — it harnesses opportunity and change; it creates momentum. Service — whether one day or every day — often becomes a defining moment, enabling people to plot their intentions and take ownership of the challenges and opportunities they face. Through servant leadership, we can resist the paralysis of inaction while immersing ourselves in our community.

At AmeriCorps, we see it all the time. Serving in a school sparks a career in education. Disaster recovery volunteers become leaders in disaster management. And now President Biden’s American Climate Corps is set to mobilize the next generation of clean energy and climate resilience workers.

On this MLK Day, I find myself reflecting on AmeriCorps’ service mission, and I’m reminded that our agency’s very roots are firmly planted in poverty alleviation, dating back to President Johnson’s War on Poverty and the creation of the VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program, which remains part of our agency. Decades later, poverty remains one of the most significant factors impacting far too many Americans. The strain of economic insecurity leads to so much struggle, from food security to education, and it affects underserved communities and communities of color drastically and disproportionately. Dr. King recognized this, naming it as one of the “Triple Evils,” alongside racism and militarism.

That’s why AmeriCorps just announced nearly $90 million in federal funding to address poverty across the country. As part of the Biden-Harris administration, we are committed to ending poverty for all — in every community. And that movement perpetually reignites through moments like the MLK Day of Service, and with each new member that takes up the mantle to serve their neighbors.

It’s clear that community service has the power to bring communities together, to bring about justice where there is injustice, and to heal divides in these polarizing times. It allows us to embark on a path, a first step of charity toward a final destination of equity and justice.

Today, AmeriCorps members — those who make a difference in so many lives — are more racially and ethnically diverse than America, and 40 percent come from low-income households. We’ve even seen how AmeriCorps members were up to two times more likely to vote in previous elections than the general public.

Some of our members are as young as 18, serving their communities before heading off to college. Others are in their 80s, mentoring a new generation through the wisdom they’ve garnered throughout their lives.

Look no further than the remarkable life of AmeriCorps Seniors volunteer Florence Cunningham (“Grandma Flo”). She marched in Selma, Alabama, with Dr. King. She suffered the dogs and hoses and ugly violence and hate of the Jim Crow South. All the while she embraced Dr. King’s message of what the King Center refers to as a “Beloved community where injustice ceases and love prevails.”

Nearly 60 years later, Florence Cunningham marches on in her life of service in Illinois, transforming the lives of countless students through mentorship in math and literacy with AmeriCorps.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived a life of action — thoughtful, purposeful, peaceful action. So yes, we take this day to remember and honor him, a celebration of his life and values. But instead of taking a day off, today we make a plan for a day — and a life — on. This day is not simply about quoting MLK. It’s not a hashtag. It’s about transformative action.

The arc of the moral universe that Dr. King talked about doesn’t bend on its own. More than ever, it requires all of us — including you — to make it bend toward justice. And by living a life of service — starting this MLK Day, we can create lasting change that will benefit our communities and democracy for years to come.

Find out how you can serve this MLK Day at AmeriCorps.gov/MLKDay.

Appointed by President Biden, Michael D. Smith is the current CEO of AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national and community service. Previously, he served in President Obama’s White House, overseeing the My Brother’s Keeper initiative and interagency task force.

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