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Inauguration: Expanding King's "Other America"

Writer's picture: Matt FrizzellMatt Frizzell

Today, I watched as the 45th President became the 47th President of the United States. Since the election, I've felt a growing fear and foreboding. Many I know share the feeling. It's hard to overstate. It seems as if the US is unraveling. Or, we are the same empire the US has historically been: Freedom for some defined by the loss, dehumanization, and criminalization of others. On the day we remember Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I'm thinking of the two Americas King discusses in his speech "the Other America." >


So little makes sense.



The party supposedly committed to "small government" aggressively seeks to expand executive power with Trump. Trump has as many as 100 executive orders he wants to sign. The orders range from targeting DEI programs, transgender persons, immigrants and immigration programs. In MAGA's us/them America, small government is for "us" and big government for "you/them." The party for "freedom" plans to use federal power to undermine basic human rights and legal protections. Women are also a target. Reproductiverights.gov. has gone dark. This website was provided under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It provided information about reproductive healthcare, rights and access in the United States. At the moment of this blogpost, the website is nonresponsive. I'm also deeply concerned about the President's plans to use the force of law and military against immigrants. In October, NPR reported that a Trump presidency would invoke a 200+ year-old act called the Alien Enemies Act. It allows the president to detain, relocate, or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy country. According to the Brennen Center for Justice, the president may invoke the Alien Enemies Act in times of a declared war. The Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to declare war. But, the President can also invoke the act when a foreign government threatens or executes an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” against the U.S. Trump has already declared the Mexico border a state of emergency. His political rhetoric of non-white immigrants dehumanizes and criminalizes them. It's a well-known tactic of authoritarian regimes. If immigrants continue to be criminalized by the President and in other political speech, abuse of the Alien Enemies Act seems imminent. The Spanish version of whitehouse.gov has already been removed.


Nothing I see in this white nationalism, consolidation of power, or undermining of equal treatment under government aligns with my Community of Christ faith. Nothing resembles the life, teachings, or ministry of Jesus Christ. None of it promotes, aligns with, or reveals the Good News of the reign of God.


What I see is dangerous. I don't think the danger can be understated. I see parallels in my study of history, the rise of authoritarian nationalist regimes, and its propaganda. Trump's election and MAGA platform has clear parallels with populist countries, their rise of authoritarian leaders, and the economic conditions that fuel radicalism. It's all visible if we are informed and aware of the patterns.

The picture of this flag I saw today is fitting. It is a flag flying half mast at a local post office. The flag has become twisted in tree branches and tied in a knot. It cannot fly. It cannot be unfurled. It is like a sail that catches whatever is blown into it. A fitting representation.


Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his speech, the Other America, in 1967. The Other America is that of the American Negro, defined by racism, poverty, and misery. His warning of white backlash seems fitting for today: "What I'm trying to get across is that our nation has constantly taken a positive step forward on the question of racial justice and racial equality. But over and over again at the same time, it made certain backward steps. And this has been the persistence of the so-called white backlash defined by racism, poverty, and human misery."


MAGA's policies all expand King's Other America. His policies add immigrants, women, and LGBTIQA+ to a growing list of “others” to exclude, oppress, and abuse. Such policies exploit the same ignorance and prejudice of racism and white supremacy, which is about domination without equality or accountability. The "golden age" Trump promises with policies against DEI, transgender persons, and immigrants make naked America's obsession with supremacy and empire on the backs of others. MAGA's formula is as old as colonization, slavery, and the American experiment. Under Trump, I see King's Other America growing.


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