As has been customary for decades, millions of Americans celebrated the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. earlier this week. But his legacy goes well beyond a single day.

Forty years ago, after one of the longest legislative battles in its modern history, the U.S. established Martin Luther King Jr. Day in recognition not only of Dr. King’s leadership but also of the Civil Rights Movement’s moral force. This year marked the 40th anniversary of the national holiday.

Despite the increasingly hostile racial climate and backlash the Trump administration is engineering, America is considerably more racially integrated than the hyper-racially segregated nation in which Dr. King resided. Almost 60 years after his brutal assassination, the nation has witnessed Black Americans become mayors of the majority of its largest cities as well as governors, senators, vice president and president.

In 1954, upon receiving his doctorate from Boston University, Dr. King could have pursued a relatively comfortable life as a pastor by becoming part of the leadership of Ebenezer Baptist Church, following in his father’s........

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