The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee advances human rights through grassroots collaborations.
The Audacity to Believe

By Shay A. Stewart-Willis on January 17, 2025
January 20: a day of reverence for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A visionary radical, Rev. Dr. King served as a leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, planned the Poor People’s Campaign, and penned such iconic works as the March on Washington speech. The United States we know today is undoubtedly shaped by the work of Rev. Dr. King.
January 20, 2025: the second presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. A media personality, businessman, and convicted felon, President Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, attempted to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, incited an insurrection, mocked people with disabilities, promoted assaulting women, and fueled racism and xenophobia. The United States we know today is undoubtedly shaped by the work of President Trump.
What would Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. say about a second Trump presidency? King knew that the violence of white supremacy would likely rob him of seeing the future of the United States. His generous, urgent work, however, gives us a glimpse into his perspective:
- “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
—A Time to Break the Silence: April 4, 1967
During his first administration, Trump secured large increases to the defense budget. When Trump took office in 2016, the budget stood at $585 billion. By 2020, the budget had increased to $718 billion. Trump cut the budgets for Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, food stamps, and disability benefits amongst other programs of social uplift. - “The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and racism. The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.”
—Speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) board, March 30, 1967.
As many learned of Donald Trump through his reality show, The Apprentice, voters have long known him as a passionate capitalist. Trump’s policies, from cutting taxes to rolling back environmental regulations, continually reward the wealthy. He has repeatedly demonstrated his investment in upholding and exacerbating existing systems of power. - “Loose and easy language about equality, resonant resolutions about brotherhood fall pleasantly on the ear, but for the Negro there is a credibility gap he cannot overlook. He remembers that with each modest advance the white population promptly raises the argument that the Negro has come far enough. Each step forward accents an ever-present tendency to backlash.
—Where Do We Go From Here: 1967
Trump regularly denies accusations of racism, tokenizing Black members of his cabinet, business partners, or voters in an attempt to placate critics. Simultaneously, he ran his 2024 campaign on a vitriolic charge against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. His ongoing racist and xenophobic rhetoric incites violence against Black Americans, notably causing a stark increase in hate crimes against the Haitian community during his 2024 campaign. Trump’s empty platitudes about his so-called “love” for Black people reflect his violent insistence that there is no further work to be done regarding racial justice in the United States.
While the words of Rev. Dr. King clearly articulate his opposition to the systems that Trump works to uphold and empower, they too carry a challenge for those speaking out against his presidency. King’s radical imagination continues to inspire alternative methods of community care. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, King said:
“I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture of their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up…”
It is and has always been our collective responsibility to work toward a world that more closely aligns with King’s vision. In this second Trump administration and beyond, we are charged to see to the food security of our neighbors, advocate for historically accurate education, and defend the dignity of all people, particularly those most impacted by injustice.
This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, may we all have the audacity to believe.