Washington, DC – In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, People For the American Way President Svante Myrick released the following statement:
“Today in our country, one man’s thirst for power has overwhelmed the rule of law. Politicians twist the truth to justify cruelty. Institutions fail the people they were meant to protect. MAGA forces try to drape their actions in patriotism while pushing us ever closer to authoritarian rule.
Martin Luther King Jr. understood this kind of danger. And more importantly, he showed us how to confront it – with discipline, love, and an unshakable moral center.
He taught that nonviolence isn’t weakness. It’s a form of strength. Not the kind that avoids conflict, but the kind that meets injustice head-on – with clarity, with purpose, and with a refusal to be broken. It doesn’t appease power. It holds it accountable.
He called nonviolent resistance ‘a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love.’ And that courage is exactly what this moment demands.
Because nonviolence is not about silence. It is not surrender. It is action – deep, disruptive, demanding action that forces the world to look at the cruelty and the harm and dares us to imagine what justice can still become.”
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About People For the American Way:
People For the American Way is a national progressive advocacy organization that inspires and mobilizes Americans to defend freedom, justice, and democracy from those who threaten to take them away. For more than four decades, we have been dedicated to making the promise of American ideals real for everyone and have worked toward a vision of a vibrant America where basic rights and freedoms are upheld for all, not just the wealthy and the powerful. Learn more at peoplefor.org.
