We are celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr today. The whole life.

This means we are gonna go deeper than the infamous I Have A Dream Speech. We are gonna go deeper because that one speech has been used to perpetuate the myth that Dr. King during his lifetime was a safe haven for those who didn't want to do the hard work of changing systems that affected the most vulnerable.

He was not palatable. In fact, his fight for race, class, and health equality made him one of the most hated men in America. In a 1967 poll, King had a 75% negative approval rating. The year before it was 63% according to a Gallup poll. Imagine trying to change the world for the better for everyone and being hated for it.

Every year I try to find something I didn't know about him and this year I am reading Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community—a book he wrote in 1967 while isolated in Jamaica so he could thoughtfully lay out his thoughts on better jobs, higher wages, decent housing, and quality education for all.

I flipped to find a random page because there are bars throughout and I couldn't decide on my own what resonated. Here's what I found:

"The hope of the world is still in dedicated minorities. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been in the minority. That creative minority of whites absolutely committed to civil rights can make it clear to the larger society that vacillation and procrastination on the question of racial justice can no longer be tolerated. It will take such a small committed minority to work unrelentingly to win the uncommitted majority. Such a group may well transform America's greatest dilemma into her most glorious opportunity."

So while there will be companies posting I Have A Dream quotes on this man because they think he's safe, we will pay attention to the small committed minority who are dedicated to making sure actions go beyond quotes. Dr. King’s words are pivotal to all the work we do here at Equity Activations. Creating a systemically better workplace is in tribute to the social justice Dr. King talks about. People having equal access to a living wage, healthcare, housing and education is why the workplace cannot be compartmentalized from the political. Every workshop, audit, training, or piece of consulting advice centers on community as a principle with equal access to the above as the goal. The company may change and even the recommendations may change but the Why never does.

Also, buy books. Read them. Think about them. Discuss them.

I’m not selling anything today but I’ll be back with how you can transform your business using our services. Especially now that you know our Why.