The irony of Jan. 20, 2025

This coming Monday is the Martin Luther King holiday, celebrating a visionary man’s life and achievements in U.S. history. It also is the day the incoming president is to be inaugurated. The irony is obvious in what these two men represent and committed their lives to doing. King was a humble man born into a preacher’s family who became a Baptist minister. Trump was born into a wealthy family raised in a mansion in Jamaica Estates, Queens, N.Y. Trump earned a bachelor’s degree in economics after attending a private military school. King eventually earned a PhD after a Master in Divinity. King went on to give speeches and organized marches in support of the Voting Rights Act, as well as the Civil Rights Act, helping both to become law.

Trump has made it harder for Americans to vote – particularly voters of color, voters with limited English proficiency, voters with disabilities, older voters and other marginalized voters – and spread false, debunked theories designed to undermine confidence in the integrity of our voting system. On civil rights, Trump has vowed “retribution” against his enemies, in particular the Justice Department, and the current Civil Rights Division staff, possibly using Schedule F, which he authorized to fire some 50,000 civil servants.

Retribution and threatening his perceived enemies is how Trump works for change, evidenced early on when he threatened his high school, colleges and the College Board with legal action if they released his academic records. King was an advocate of nonviolent resistance and nonviolent civil disobedience to enact change, such as resisting the Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination.

King was jailed several times. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover saw King as a radical and had agents investigate him for being a communist, spied on him and mailed him a threatening letter. King persevered, and in 1964 won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality via nonviolent resistance.

Perhaps one of Trump’s best-known efforts to effect political change was his support of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump will be inaugurated with the support of billionaires and will hold the distinction of being the only U.S. President to gain office as a convicted and sentenced felon.

How can one reconcile this Jan. 20 as a day of celebration with two such different personages? I choose to celebrate King and his “dream” that we all deserve the same right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

– Tim Thomas, Durango