Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr's Life and Legacy

On Monday, we will commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his courageous leadership in the fight for civil rights and racial justice in America.

In October 1962, while speaking at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, Dr. King discussed the question “are we making any real progress in the area of race relations?” Dr. King, in discussing issues impeding progress in race relations, stated:

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

This summer, again, many were asking the same question: Have we made any real progress in race relations? The murder of Breonna Taylor, and so many others, shone a light on the systemic racism that persists in our society and that keeps many girls from reaching their full potential.

As the interim CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, I’m committed to ensuring that Girl Scouts is part of the solution—that we are doing the work necessary to become an actively anti-racist organization. Our mission is to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place. In order to do that, Black, Indigenous and girls of color, in particular, must feel like they belong in Girl Scouts. We want Girl Scouts to be a place where ALL girls feel welcome and ALL girls thrive.

As a country we have come a long way, but there is much more work to do. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

It’s important to remember, though, that it doesn’t bend by itself—we must bend it together.

Please join us in our commitment to making the world a more just and equitable place by signing Girl Scouts of the USA's anti-racism pledge today.

(Photo credit: By Nobel Foundation, Public Domain)