Black Lives Matter activists fight for MLK’s legacy with racial justice demands

“Our vision is to uplift that. We when speak a lot about ‘I Have a Dream’—that’s cool, but we want to also recognize the dream is not realized," Arissa Wilson, 26, an organizer at BYP 100, said. "If people are still poor and people are still oppressed then the dream is not realized.” Photo by TJ Brown/Shutterstock (Licensed) via Wikimedia Commons, The Daily Dot. — “Our vision is to uplift that. We when speak a lot about ‘I Have a Dream’—that’s cool, but we want to also recognize the dream is not realized,” Arissa Wilson, 26, an organizer at BYP 100, said. “If people are still poor and people are still oppressed then the dream is not realized.” Photo by TJ Brown/Shutterstock (Licensed) via Wikimedia Commons, The Daily Dot.

Today, black activists aren’t just celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. They are attempting to reclaim the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

From Jan. 15 to 18, Black Lives Matter, Movement for Black Lives, Black Youth Project 100, and other black social justice organizations have been spearheading a second annual national call of action called #ReclaimMLK.

According to the Movement for Black Lives, King’s legacy has been “softened” by commercialized efforts and #ReclaimMLK is working to change that.

Activists across the country have been organizing shutdowns, protests, marches and teach-ins to not only honor King, but to embody his ideals of highlighting racial and economic injustices.