Why Martin Luther King Jr.’s human rights legacy endures despite attempts to diminish its significance.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the holiday honoring the life and birthday of the American civil rights leader.
Despite it being a federal holiday, President Donald Trump removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day from the National Park Service’s list of free admission days. He also removed Juneteenth—which commemorates the day the last group of enslaved people learned they were free after the Union won the Civil War—from the list.
In doing so, Trump attempted to diminish the importance and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. in both American and global history. He is wrong.
King is a figure who transcends the current moment. While Trump promotes hatred and division, MLK stood for the opposite: he fought for a more just and equitable society. If Trump is remembered in history as the president who deepened national divisions and possibly led the country toward destruction, Martin Luther King will be remembered as his polar opposite—especially in an era when respect for human rights is so urgently needed.
It is important to note that MLK Day is one of twelve federal holidays in 2026. That means President Trump alone does not have the authority to cancel MLK Day or any established federal holiday. Doing so would require an act of Congress.
MLK’s Legacy in Human Rights
Since the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, racism has remained deeply embedded in the U.S. criminal justice system, despite decades of civil rights activism. Police shootings of unarmed Black men continue to make headlines—most recently the killing of Stephon Clark, shot by Sacramento police while holding a cellphone—and the officers responsible are rarely held accountable.
Civil rights activists have fought tirelessly for racial justice over decades, winning critical court rulings against discrimination. However, they have not fully leveraged the international arguments and allies available to them. The issue of race and justice in the United States is also a human rights issue, grounded in international treaties, declarations, and laws that uphold the rights to which everyone is entitled.
In the U.S., the focus often remains narrowly on civil and political rights, with little attention paid to economic, social, and cultural rights. While the rights to vote, free speech, and a fair trial are essential to human dignity, so too are the rights to adequate food, clothing, housing, education, and the highest attainable standard of health. What is often ignored is how modern American society criminalizes poverty and fuels inequality, feeding the school-to-prison pipeline.
If Americans continue to look only through the lens of the U.S. justice system to solve the problem of unjustified police shootings and other issues affecting communities of color, the results will remain unsatisfying.
Dr. King understood the vital link between civil rights, human rights, and the fight against racial injustice. Today’s activists and leaders would do well to follow his example. The civil rights and international human rights communities in the U.S. They should strengthen their collaboration to address systemic injustice and racial disparities. Fifty years on, a coordinated effort to solve these problems is needed more than ever.
