As our community reflects and celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Kids Forward would like to share our ongoing and steadfast commitment and energy to advocating for every kid, every family, and every community within Wisconsin.

As we consider Martin Luther King’s legacy and the distance that we have traveled over the 63 years since his “Give Us the Ballot” speech, we are struck by both how far we have come, and how much further we have to go.

When Dr. King gave his famous speech, black and brown children, families, and individuals were facing injustice and violence in the name of the law. Yet in 2020, Dr. King’s words still ring true:

Give us the ballot and we will fill our legislative halls with men of goodwill…Give us the ballot and we will place judges on the benches who will do justly and love mercy…In this juncture of our nation’s history there is an urgent need for dedicated and courageous leadership. If we are to solve the problems ahead and make racial justice a reality, this leadership must be founded. 

We enter this year, with his words foremost in our minds. We must seek leadership that emphasizes unity, represents our shared values, and a collective sense of fairness and justice to tackle some of our nation’s ever present and urgent challenges — poverty, environmental injustice, health disparities, anti-immigrant policies, a struggling public education system, and a broken criminal justice system.

We must face that in this democracy if we fail to actively and aggressively combat racial and economic inequity, no one is immune. No one remains untouched from the harms that befall the few. It will become the cancer of our nation. The greed, racism, and resentment that has been the undercurrent of our national discourse, decisions, and interactions will be the resounding story of this era. This was not what Dr. King envisioned and dreamed of. Today, he would ask us to push back against this tide and work hand in hand towards a brighter and more just future.

Kids Forward, as a public policy and advocacy organization, sees the importance of centering the voices and needs of communities of color in the democratic process and advocating for a better state where communities of color and those furthest from opportunity thrive. We must address disparities and implement policies that proactively remove barriers facing communities of color and those furthest from opportunity. We need to elect individuals to public office that are committed to listening to communities of color, talking about race and racial disparities, working with communities of color to amplify their voices, and implementing equitable public policy.

Erica Nelson & Stephanie Muñoz