Opinion: Portland lawmaker reflects on Dr. King’s legacy as politics unfolds in Washington, D.C.

Published 3:22 pm Monday, January 20, 2025

Today, we honor the legacy of a man who gave his life on behalf of justice and equality. Simultaneously, a new U.S. president has been inaugurated whose own ideals are the antithesis of the dream envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Our country is divided, and our country is angry.

I share with you excerpts from my speech at today’s World Arts Foundation “Keep Alive the Dream” event in Portland.

“The last 10 years of American culture has brightly exposed not just the overt, long festering animosities based on racism and cultivated by systemic racism. The Trump era has legitimized racist and discriminatory attitudes, behaviors and even policies….

“Decades ago, Dr. King would tell us before we headed off on marches that if we wanted to do well we had to follow a path that did not let hate, anger, and fear (provoked by such racism) develop, because even small amounts of it would create further problems for us. As a teenager I took those words to heart and worked to incorporate them in my life….

“But now, 50 years later, I still struggle to channel anger in the right way, in a way to make a difference.

“Showing compassion for that ignorance and inculcated bigotry is every bit as difficult now as it was then. And after so many decades of effort, while we have made significant strides.… We are facing a regressive backlash that threatens so much of the progress we have made.

“We must undercut the MAGA belief that the only way to success is to attack and diminish the lives of others. And it’s OK to work through the complexity of emotions which include frustration and anger. We’ve earned the right to be angry, but only if we channel and translate it to keep up the good fight and the good trouble.”

State Sen. Lew Frederick’s District 22 serves portions of North and Northeast Portland. He has served in both the Senate and Oregon House of Representatives since 2009.