On This Martin Luther King Day, What Ever Happened To His Dream Of ‘The Promised Land’?

 “Today is Martin Luther King Day and in his honour, we will strive to make his dream come true.” – from an address Donald Trump delivered when he was sworn in for the second time as U.S. president, on Martin Luther King Day, 2025

A Brief Commentary on Martin Luther King Day by Doug Draper

Posted January 19th, 2026 on Niagara At Large

The night before he was assassinated in April, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King told an audience he was addressing in his stirring :I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” speech, that he had seen the promised land.

I many not get there with you,” were his all too prophetic words, “but we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

Fifty-eight years  later, on this Martin Luther King Day, January 19^th, 2026, that promised land of peace, justice and equal opportunity for all that Dr. King envisioned for America seems farther away than ever.

Instead, wrote M. Gleeson in an opinion column for this past Sunday, January 18^th’s New York Times, Trump has turned America into a land where “a person can be summarily executed in public” for attending a protest against paramilitary forces taking over the streets.

“A year into Trump’s second term,” added Gleeson in the column, “friends who live outside the United States continue to express shock at the news that comes from this country, often mixed with concern for my safety.”

What can one say except where is Martin Luther King when his country and the world need him so much now?

• Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
  

To listen and watch legendary musician Stevie Wonder talk about making Martin Luther King Day a national holiday in his country and why it was so important to, click on the screen immediately below –

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