On next Monday, Jan. 20, our country will honor the work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s a federal holiday meant to remind every American that unity, equality, kindness, opportunity, and justice are all possible to give and receive regardless of one’s skin color. Dr. King was a man who relentlessly fought for these ideals without violence but with undeniable actions whenever and wherever injustices were afoot.

This year will mark the 60th anniversary of the marches in Selma that sought to protest efforts to keep African Americans from voting. Two years before, Dr. King had been jailed for eight days in Birmingham, Alabama, for protesting the state laws that prevented Black people from eating at lunch counters with white people and gaining employment.

When city officials sought, and received, a federal injunction over the protests, Dr. King declared, “We cannot in all good conscience obey such an injunction, which is an unjust, undemocratic, and unconstitutional misuse of the legal process.”

This year will also mark the 62nd anniversary of Dr. King’s March on Washington, when he not only told us about his dreams but also told us that we should not be satisfied “until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

On next Monday, we will also watch our country stand divided as the 47th president of the United States – a man who has proudly campaigned on division, inequality and separate, never equal – is sworn in.

Our country is ravaged with division. Divided by race. Divided along political lines. Divided by faith. Divided in our own families. Dare it be said, our country is segregated.

Black women have opted to take a much-needed, four-year hiatus from saving and shaping the nation. And for those who envisioned Jan. 20, 2025, as something very different before Nov. 4, 2024, on Monday, they will confront the irony of the president-elect being sworn in on the same day as the nation honors Dr. King.

Could it be that the reason our country is so divided on Dr. King’s day is that we have become complacent in our efforts to continue to honor his legacy? Are we complicit in the actions that have led to a pause in our collective works and given way to the efforts of those intent on the undoing of the work of Dr. King fought so hard to implement, and for which he paid the ultimate price?

Dr. King was a man of action. He was a verb! He represented a fluid, ever turning, constant movement, never settling for less than equitable action in all that he did. Jan. 20, 2025, will be a day to remember that every day is a day to do something that leaves a legacy of hope, change, and togetherness.

Our responsibility is not simply to gather once a year to honor Dr. King; it is to do the work every day.

It is not in the naming of the building, the street or the holiday; it is the work that comes out of the building that furthers his legacy. It is the work that changes the lives of the people who live on and around the street named in his honor and who gather each year to celebrate his legacy by reflecting on their last 365 days and say, “We continued to dream even during dark times of challenge and controversy."

"We found the brightest light in the darkest spaces and never lost faith even when we could not see what was in front of us because we knew justice would not be delayed and denied so long as we were working together to achieve our dreams.”

So on Monday, history will not repeat itself as a punishment but as a reminder that we have work to do. We will unpause our efforts toward equality and equity and move with intent and purpose to honor the rich, actionable legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. each and every day.

Stephanie L. Everett, Esq. is the Register of Probate for Suffolk County.