Why do we celebrate a holiday honoring a man who was arrested and jailed twenty-nine times, and was ultimately assassinated? What lessons can we learn from this man, Martin Luther King, Jr. and from an American society and institutions who seem to have forgotten his contributions that made him worthy of a national holiday?

Martin Luther King (aka MLK), a powerful pastor and speaker, was both the catalyst for and the central figure in the Civil Rights movement that extended from 1955 to 1968. From MLK’s sermons, speeches, and writings, we are struck by a man with an unusual discerning mind grounded in timeless truths. MLK was all about nonviolent action to bring about racial and social healing through truth, love, and peaceful debate and protest.

What is hard to come to grips with today is how the power, healing, and truth of his message could be overshadowed by today’s divisive and demoralizing so-called woke philosophies of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) that divide rather than unite society. MLK stressed the importance of bringing people together through constructive dialogue and seeing all people as individuals made in God’s image. In contrast, those who have recently claimed to hold up the torch of civil rights, such as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, generally do so through militant action, malicious language, and confrontation.

The woke movement in the United States is largely the progeny of BLM, an organization that was founded by Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza, who both self-identify as Marxists. For those who relate wokeness with progress, a gnawing question still haunts: What good ever came out of Marxism? While some newcomers to the philosophy might idealistically........

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