“Seeking Guidance in the Words and Deeds of King for the Era of Trump”

Too often in political discussions and always around January 15, we hear speculation — even predictions — about how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would react to a situation. Most of that is just self-affirming drivel. I propose not to pretend to read the mind of a man long dead, but to explore what he said and what he did in a life cut short. Rather than a focus on what he would be doing, I will suggest what we should be doing.

Professor E. R. Shipp is a journalist-scholar with advanced degrees from Columbia University and, as she says, from life. She is a founding faculty member of the School of Global Journalism and Communication at Morgan State University, where she currently directs the school’s new Baltimore Reporting Project. She is the first black woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in the category of commentary. Her career in journalism has taken her to The New York Times, The New York Daily News and The Washington Post. She currently pens a biweekly column for The Baltimore Sun and is a frequent commentator on public radio.