Opinion: As pandemic rages on, how can we honor King's legacy in 2022?

Last year, in this space, I asked a question: “How do we honor Dr. King during this pandemic?”

I shared how important it was for this nation to repair its image in the world, by our government assessing its procedures and developing programs to wipe out every form of discrimination. Our political leaders needed to embody themselves as moral examples, positively influencing our communities and state to demonstrate love, justice, mercy, and humility.

Also, it was essential for us to examine our belief system, determining whether it maintained our private devotion to God, moved our private devotion to God to our public duty to God and humanity or both. This way, the efforts in which we participated in our community would uphold the humanity and dignity of all people.

How has 2022 changed? Although vaccines and booster shots, along with numerous testing sites, are available, we are still dealing with COVID-19 and its variants. Lives continue to be lost. Essential workers and families struggle to find strength. Fighting among political leaders across the ideological spectrum and within it remains bitter. Chaos and confusion persist over mask mandates and critical race theory.

Keeping those things in mind, 2022 is an election year. While the offices of US president and vice president are not on the ballot, we still have, as Greenville native the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. said during his 1984 presidential campaign, a chance and a choice. It's a chance to determine how we will navigate safely through this pandemic and a choice about who will serve us with that goal in mind.

Dr. King saw the power of the vote, so much so that in his 1957 address, “Give Us the Ballot,” he said, "As long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind — it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact—I can only submit to the edict of others."

It is important to note that voting rights were not given to all Americans, due to the use of literacy tests, the "grandfather clause," the poll tax, among others. The fight for this civil and human right was a bloody, violent oneduring the Civil Rights Movement, especially for an interracial and interfaith coalition in Selma, AL prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Today, the right to vote remains challenged, with several state legislatures passing tougher voting laws while the US Senate is deadlocked in its efforts to pass federal voting rights legislation.

Regardless of where we stand politically, it is important that the right to vote is preserved and protected for all people.

This is how we can still honor Dr. King in this pandemic.

The Rev. Lerone Jonathan Wilder (Ph.D., Union Institute & University with Specialization in MLK, Jr. Studies) is pastor of historic Mattoon Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Greenville and is an assistant professor of religion at Newberry College. He can be reached at lerone.wilder@newberry.edu.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Opinion: To honor Dr. King's legacy, support voting rights