As fate would have it, the inauguration of the forty-seventh president, Donald Trump, will fall on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on January 20th. Such a day practically begs us to draw a comparison between these two men. There’s a painful irony in a nation celebrating a man whose decisions have perpetuated harm against the black community while at the same time honoring one of the most prolific civil rights leaders in American history. On the one end, we have a White man who, despite being convicted of thirty-four felonies, has reached the highest political position of power in the country. On the other end, we have a Black man who, despite his peaceful approach to challenging racial segregation and discrimination, was arrested nearly thirty times and frequently labeled a “troublemaker.”
Americans’ attention will be pulled in two different directions that day but some things will remain the same. For instance, conservatives cherry-pick quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to distort his message. This annual tradition is dreadfully anticipated in the black community. One of the most common examples would be efforts to misrepresent his famous, I Have a Dream Speech, which he delivered in the summer of 1963. Ron DeSantis, the Republican Florida governor, invoked King when he proposed the Stop Woke Act in 2021, arguing the civil rights leader “didn’t want people judged on the color of their skin but on the content of their character.” However, as those who read the entire speech realize, this misrepresents his message. King dreamed that one day, “little Black boys and Black girls [would] be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” But, hoping that race will not matter one day is not the same as claiming we’ve already crossed the finish line.
Take, for instance, some of the sections of his speech that conservatives routinely overlook. When King expressed disappointment that one hundred years after slavery, “the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” Or that they lived “on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke passionately in this same speech about the need to continue the forward march of progress, encouraging citizens to address the racism tainting the American project. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism,” he warned. While DeSantis claimed that blocking critical race theory was aligned with King’s legacy, it’s clear that it isn’t. Indeed, it was only by acknowledging racial injustices in America that he was able to speak about the urgency of mitigating harm.
But, back to Donald Trump. Long before he took the reigns of political power, he developed a reputation as a racist. In the 1970s, the federal government sued Donald Trump because some of his properties allegedly refused to rent to Black apartment seekers. Maxine Brown, a 33-year-old Black nurse at the time, sought an apartment but believed she was denied based on her race. Despite her interest, they refused to process her application. Trump claimed the government was trying to force him to rent to “welfare recipients” despite applicants like Brown earning sufficient income to qualify. A New York Times investigation revealed that the “few minorities who did live in Trump-owned buildings often had to force their way in.” Far too often, when Black people attempted to rent, they were told there were “no vacancies,” even after they’d been told by residents that there were.
Thomas Miranda, a former superintendent at Trump-owned properties, testified that they were instructed to write “C” for “colored” on any application submitted by a Black person. This signal helped to distinguish between applicants, allowing the company to enforce a policy of racial discrimination. When the dust of the legal battle settled, Trump signed a consent decree that required no admission of guilt. However, there were stipulations such as ensuring “the desegregation of Trump properties.” Had they never been segregated, such a declaration wouldn’t be necessary. King’s advocacy, on the other hand, contributed to the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing based on an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, disability, national origin, or family status. While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought to end racial discrimination in housing throughout his career, Donald Trump was repeatedly accused of perpetuating it.
Another case that illustrates the stark difference between these figures is Trump’s attack on the Central Park Five, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise. In 1990, Trump took out a full-page ad advocating for the State of New York to bring back the death penalty to use against five teenagers in three newspapers, wrongfully accused of raping a White woman in central park. Even after the courts exonerated them of this crime, he has refused to apologize. In the advertisement, he said society should “unshackle them from the constant chant of police brutality.” However, given that these teenagers were innocent, violence against them only added to the injustice of the affair. For many, Trump’s effort to punish innocent Black teenagers was reminiscent of America’s most shameful pastime, racial terror lynchings. And when we consider King’s speech, in which he argued that “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality,” it’s clear just how bizarre their juxtaposition is.
America celebrating the inauguration of Donald Trump on the same day reserved to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. puts the two-faced nature of the nation on display. Are we a nation where it’s socially acceptable to discriminate against, stereotype, and even target Black people, or one where all citizens are entitled to equal rights and opportunities? That decision remains in the hands of citizens, who, through their choices at the ballot box and everyday life, will determine what kind of nation this will be. And yet, it’s worth considering the painful irony of this day from the perspective of Black Americans. That the same nation celebrating racial progress obtained through advocacy is, on the same day, elevating someone who’s come to represent a return to the past. Who once referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as “terrorists.”
Some Americans will celebrate a civil rights leader, and others will celebrate a man who opposes racial progress on January 20th. It’s hard to imagine that the same group of people can genuinely honor both of these men, as the legacy of King openly contradicts the policies and reputation of Donald Trump. Conservatives will likely continue the tradition of cherry-picking text to sway public opinion, especially since Republicans will find themselves in the political limelight during Trump’s inauguration. There may even be a concerted effort to twist his words to lend moral legitimacy to the incoming administration. However, we must remember that he was very critical of America’s racism and injustices against the poor. And believed that awareness was a social responsibility. As King once said, “One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change.”