COUNTERPROGRAM THE INAUGURATION!

Don’t just ignore the inauguration of our future Felon-in-Chief! Actively commit to the legacy of our nation’s greatest civil rights leader!

The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is an official day of service that honors his legacy and empowers the community to create a “just, humane, equitable and peaceful world.” However, for the first time ever, it coincides with a presidential inauguration.

In response, some MLK groups, such as the one in LA, moved their events to earlier dates, such as the preceding Saturday (which is also the date of the Women’s March). Others, like Ventura County’s MLK Jr. Committee, stuck with the original date, but made contingency plans. If V.P. Kamala Harris had won, the community would have gathered together to watch the inauguration of America’s first Black woman president on a big screen.

However, a convicted felon and threat to democracy won, a man who should have been disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a man who will take the oath of office no more seriously than he did during his first term. So, the work continues – with a Freedom March and observance program – to re-ignite the activism that the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. demanded of us.

We urge everyone to participate in their local events, and if possible, be a visible reminder of protest on the sidewalks and streets for your community.

1. Look for your nearest MLK Jr. organizations!

These groups often put in months of planning!

Prioritize the activities and events of Black-led organizations.
Join in their celebration! Support their activities that day! Volunteer to help!
If you’re near enough, come to our celebration in Ventura County! This event, which includes a Freedom March and Observance Program, has been running continuously for 39 years!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1119850450145460/

2. No MLK Jr. group nearby?

Contact your local NAACP, Democratic clubs, ACLU, Americorps and churches.

Prioritize the activities and event by Black-led organizations.
Send out word through social media on when and where to gather.
Follow the ACLU guidelines for a safe and peaceful gathering.

(aclu) If you take part in a protest

You may:

Distribute leaflets, flyers or other literature on your own property or on public sidewalks, parks and plazas
Picket or protest on public sidewalks, parks and plazas so long as sidewalks and building entrances are no blocked
Chant or sing protest songs on public sidewalks, parks and plazas

You may not:

Block access to sidewalks or buildings
Disrupt counter-protests
Engage in speech that is obscene, makes knowingly false statements of fact, or that is likely to incite an immediate disruptive or dangerous disturbance

Additionally, you may not be able to march in the streets without a permit in some jurisdictions, and you may be required to follow local traffic rules. See the full article for more details.

3. Nothing happening near you? Create your own day!

Project 2025 and the MAGA movement, like fascist movements before them, are hellbent on chipping us apart, attacking small groups like the transgender community, so create events that demonstrate that we will leave no one behind.

From Indivisible.org. “Your service activity should reflect the unique needs of your community. Here are a few ideas to inspire you:

Immigrant Support: Organize a legal aid clinic, assist a local immigrant resource center, or host a donation drive for families in need of essential supplies.
LGBTQ+ Support: Host a clothing swap for trans youth, organize a fundraiser for a local LGBTQ+ advocacy group, or provide community support to those facing discrimination.
Education: Paint and clean up schools, donate books to a book drive or host a tutoring event to support students in need.
Food Security: Volunteer at a local food pantry, organize a food drive, or prepare meals for families in need.
Housing Support: Partner with Habitat for Humanity or a local shelter to assist with building or repairing homes.
Reproductive Healthcare: Organize a fundraiser for your local abortion clinic or abortion fund, or host a donation drive for contraceptives (e.g. condoms, Plan B, Opill)
Health and Wellness: Create care packages for hospital workers, organize a blood drive, or distribute hygiene kits to unhoused neighbors.
Environmental Action: Clean up parks, plant trees, or hold a recycling drive to beautify and protect your local environment.
Civil Rights Education: Host a teach-in on civil rights history, voter empowerment, or the ongoing fight for racial justice.

These activities are not just about service—they’re about showing that our communities are resilient, united, and unwilling to back down in the face of hate and division.”

Don’t let ANYONE hijack the legacy of this man – Readings!

(aclualabama) “If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, he would be 95. All these years, Dr. King had a vision for our state and our country – one of racial, economic, and civic equity. A future where generations of people could enjoy the civil liberties guaranteed to them by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, the very rights that Dr. King and many organizers sacrificed themselves for are at risk.

In the 2024 Legislative Session, lawmakers are attempting to strip voting rights through Senate Bill 1 – where if passed, you could be charged with a felony for helping someone get an absentee ballot or ballot application. And this is just the beginning of voter suppression as we move into Election season.

Lawmakers are criminalizing voters, restricting free speech, and suppressing peaceful assembly. These reprehensible actions were what Dr. King and his peers continuously had to fight against. So today, do not remember the legacy of his leadership through a quote or sound clip. Remember him in how you, your neighbors, and your community are going to fight to make our state more equitable.

Here are five quotes that remind us Dr. King was not just a brilliant and virtuous leader, but a radical organizer that fought against injustice. A leader that, just two years before his assassination, 63% of Americans viewed him unfavorably including 44% who viewed him highly unfavorably (Gallup, 1966). A leader that the FBI considered dangerous and attempted to disparage (NPR, 2021). A leader who was killed while supporting a sanitation workers strike against neglect and abuse.

To fight for the future of our country means sacrifice and hardship, but we must believe that it’s one worth fighting for. “

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
– Letter From a Birmingham Jail, 1963
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
– “Beyond Vietnam” Sermon, 1967
“Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.”
– Letter From a Birmingham Jail, 1963
“Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal.”
– “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” 1968
“A riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear?…It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.”
– “The Other America,” 1968