My 35-minute day of service challenge

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was born on January 15, 1929. His legacy is celebrated on the third Monday in January as an official day of service. In the United States, MLK Day is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities. Though not a formally recognized holiday in Canada, Dr. King is still relevant to our own country’s history:

• April 28, 1959: Dr. King appeared on CBC-TV, to test the panel on his headline-making achievement on the game show Front Page Challenge. During his appearance, when asked about racial equality, he said,

“(black people) must work continuously for first class citizenship, but certainly he must not use second-class methods to gain it.… I would think of violence as a second-class method, I would think of hatred as a second-class method. It seems to me that it is possible to move on towards the goal of justice with wise restraint and calm reasonableness… (while) at the same time maintaining a positive attitude of goodwill” (CBC Archives).

This is as true today as it was in 1959. The way forward is not with violence or through hatred but creating change with love in our hearts.

• December 1967: Dr. King recorded "Conscience for Change" for the CBC’s Massey Lectures. The Massey Lectures (still!) bring Canadians some of the greatest minds of our time. Of Canada, Dr. King shared,

"Canada is not merely a neighbor... Deep in our history of struggle for freedom Canada was the north star… The legendary underground railroad started in the south and ended in Canada. The freedom road links us together. Our spirituals, now so widely admired around the world, were often codes. We sang of "heaven" that awaited us and the slave masters listened in innocence, not realizing that we were not speaking of the hereafter. Heaven was the word for Canada and (black people) sang of the hope that his escape on the underground railroad would carry him there.”

Canada was seen as heaven and a land of opportunity. Let freedom continue to ring…

• September 2013: Dr. Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, delivered the keynote address at Vancouver’s Walk for Reconciliation, an event intended to be part of the healing process related to Canada's residential school system. The event took place on the year of the 50th anniversary of her father’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Of his legacy, she stated,

"My father, if you study his life's work, was in the midst of addressing economic injustice. In fact, he saw economic injustice as inseparable twins... So going forward, there have to be opportunities made to truly empower First Nations people. That's the same struggle we face, a little bit different from theirs, in America."

I am proud that this past September, LinkedIn Toronto embraced Orange Shirt Day to recognize the experience of residential school survivors and show a collective commitment to ensure that every child matters.

Our world is in pain. The pandemic has been incredibly difficult, as we see economies, cities, businesses, and individuals struggle. The fight for justice against systemic racism is a daily battle, as videos, images and stories continue to emerge of individuals heartbreakingly and unnecessarily taken from their loved ones. There have been calls to defund the police, impeach the president and stay executions of death row inmates. The attempted siege of the United States Capitol on January 6th bore witness to the inequalities of the world. Clearly, there is still much work to do.

Like many, you may feel overwhelmed, and probably righteously and unquestionably sad. This is a hard time, the hardest time that many have ever faced. It is no surprise that our mental health is bearing the brunt of everything we are experiencing.

Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, we can continue his legacy. Dr. Bernice King said, "We've created, as my father said, this wonderful house, this wonderful neighbourhood, but we have not found a way to create a brother and sisterhood. And if we don't, we're going to perish together as fools." Monday, January 18 marks the 35th anniversary of MLK Day being designated as an observed holiday.

On this day, at this moment in history, I challenge you to take my 35-minute MLK Day Challenge. Act in service of your fellow brothers and sisters for 35 minutes and embrace today as your own day of service. Some ideas to get you started:

• Spend 35 minutes checking on your neighbours – they may be lonely, especially right now;
• Have a 35-minute quality conversation with loved ones via phone or video – make sure they know you care;
• Use 35 minutes to write letters to incarcerated individuals – you can be the light in someone’s day;
• Take 35 minutes to write to a government official asking for change – use the power of your voice;
• Share your gratitude for people who are far away – take the opportunity to put your feelings into words;
• Reach out to a customer to provide support that’s above and beyond – delivering customer value is at the heart of who we are;
• Take 35 minutes to learn more about Dr. King and his legacy – the more we know about our history, the less likely we are to repeat the errors of the past.

However you choose to mark this day, do it in service of others. Help to foster a brother and sisterhood. Whatever you do, do it with love in your heart. Dr. King poignantly believed that “Love and nonviolence should be the regulating ideals in any struggle for human dignity." And I wholeheartedly agree.

Are you up for the challenge? Share your acts of service in the comments ?

“We still advocate non-violence, passive resistance, and are still determined to use the weapon of love,” he said during a March 22, 1956 news conference in Montgomery. “We are still insisting emphatically that violence is self-defeating, that he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.”

#blacklivesmatter #mlkday #mlk #equality #diversity #inclusion #dibs #love