It’s been 70 years, one month and some change since the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in December 1955, the launch to the modern Civil Rights Movement. However in January 2026, 69 years and one month since the end of the historic 382-day boycott, and more than six decades since the historic Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965) were passed, people are still fighting across the United States for justice and equity for all.
When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream of a more just society on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963, he knew that achieving that goal took sustained, intentional work. Nearly five years later, when King took to Memphis, Tennessee, to help the sanitation workers before being assassinated, he also knew equality required constant work and action.
“We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point, in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through,” King said on April 3, 1968, in his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.
Even after the signing of the landmark legislations in 1964 and 1965 towards civil and voting rights, King’s commitment to combating inequities never wavered.
“Let us keep the issues where they are. The issue is injustice,” he said in his final address.
With the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer involved killings of Keith Porter Jr. on New Year’s Eve and Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7; the major health, economic, and educational disparities facing Black communities; and the federal attacks on the LGBTQIA community, people with disabilities, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and Black history, “the struggle” King talked about remains. The issue is still injustice.
This year’s MLK Holiday DC theme, “The Struggle is Real. The Fight is Still,” is a reminder that the justice work King emphasized nearly 58 years ago, must continue.
“Dr. King taught us the struggle is not a moment, it is a movement,” said the Rev. Thomas Bowen, Earl L. Harrison minister of Social Justice at Shiloh Baptist Church in Northwest, D.C. “The work is not finished.”
As the nation celebrates King’s life and legacy, this year’s theme— and all that’s happening in the world— offers a call to further the civil rights marty’s fight.
This MLK special edition is filled with people working to combat inequities and rally others to push toward justice for all. From activists working for change, to faith leaders speaking truth to power from the pulpit, and students considering a more just tomorrow, there are many people still walking in King’s legacy and working to achieve his dream.
Use the stories in this special edition to not only be informed, but inspired and join the justice fight, remembering King’s charge to see the struggle “through.”
“As Ella Baker said, ‘We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes,’” Bowen told The Informer. “Today we are called not just to commemorate or remember, but to respond, to show up, speak out, and carry the fight for justice forward.”