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
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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