Where Do We Go From Here? Reflections on the Connection between Martin Luther King’s Legacy and the Barbara McDowell and Gerald S. Hartman Foundation and Public Interest Law Center
By Maria Imperial, Barbara McDowell Foundation and Public Interest Law Center Vice President
This week we will celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This year marks the 30th anniversary of his holiday as a National Day of Service. On a much less grand scale, it also marks the completion of my first 90 days as Vice-President at the Barbara McDowell and Gerald S. Hartman Foundation (the Foundation) and Public Interest Law Center (the Center). As I complete my first 90 days, I realize that the Foundation, the Center and Barbara McDowell’s inspiring life have much in common with the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.
I am a new member of the Barbara McDowell fan club. She was an exceptional attorney for social justice reforms. From 1997 to 2004, Barbara was Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States and argued 18 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including two cases on the same day. Despite the professional accolades bestowed from her affiliation with the Office of the Solicitor General, in a watershed moment in her life, Barbara left the Solicitor General’s Office to become the founding Director of the Appellate Advocacy Program at the Legal Aid Society of Washington, D.C. Barbara handled there a broad range of cases and became the leading anti-poverty voice in the D.C. Court of Appeals. She believed that she could make a difference by using the law to catalyze change.
Dr. King, like the Foundation, the Center and Barbara McDowell, believed that legal reform was a pathway to achieving justice. Working in collaboration with lawyers, legal groups and civil rights and labor organizations, Dr. King often saw to litigation to correct inequities. He would partner with lawyers and organizations on litigation strategies, legal theories, speech writing and drafting legislation. In their article, “A Notorious Litigant” and “Frequenter of Jails”: Martin Luther King, Jr., His Lawyers and the Legal System,” Leonard Rabinowitz, Michelle Shaw, and Michal Crowder, point out that Dr. King’s “activism began and ended with lawyers and the courts.” The article begins with the following quote from Dr. King:
“I have a deep and abiding admiration for the legal profession and the tremendous role it has played in the service of the cause with which I have been identified. The road to freedom is now a highway because lawyers throughout the land, yesterday and today, have helped clear the obstructions, have helped eliminate roadblocks, by their selfless, courageous espousal of difficult and unpopular causes.”
(Martin Luther King, Foreword to William M. Kunstler, Deep in my Heart(1966))
Dr. King, like the Foundation, the Center and Barbara McDowell, took a holistic approach to justice. He aspired for “social justice,” which is broader than legal justice and included economic empowerment, racial and health equity, civil and political rights. For this reason, the Foundation and the Center focus on supporting and bringing social justice litigation across fifteen key areas.
Dr. King believed that everyone deserved equal opportunities and to be treated with dignity and respect. He connected the struggle for civil rights with the struggle for economic justice. In his speech, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?,” Dr. King called for Congress to pass an economic bill of rights. He recognized that equity could not exist without access to resources and understood the principles of building a movement by using economic power collectively.
In 1994, Dr. King’s holiday became a National Day of Service to others and the community, a time to come together and to work cooperatively. Service to others is considered a key aspect of a lawyer’s professional responsibility and is typically codified in a state’s rules of professional conduct and fulfilled through pro bono legal work. Service to others is an underlying principle of the Foundation, the Center and Barbara McDowell’s life. At the Center, volunteer attorneys staff all our litigation efforts. By taking on cases that might otherwise go unrepresented, volunteer attorneys help bridge the justice gap.
Like the Foundation, the Center and Barbara McDowell, Dr. King embraced the foundations of democracy, including voting rights, civil rights and workers’ rights. In “Where Do We Go From Here?” he talked about the need for the Black community to organize, to register voters and to elect representatives who would advance their interests. The Foundation and the Center expand upon Dr. King’s vision of democracy and work to ensure fair immigration practices, promoting the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities, as well as those who are justice-involved.
So, where do we go from here? The Foundation and the Center are answering Dr. King’s question with our work. Drawing from the themes of Dr. King’s speech, we work to eradicate systemic injustices through litigation, advocacy, education and grant-making. We dedicate ourselves to building community – -a beloved community -- where everyone “thrives with dignity, respect and equity as the standard for all.” During the difficult and uncertain days that lie ahead, we must remember how Dr. King answered this question:
“Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on … with an audacious faith in the future.”
In choosing to work at Foundation and the Center at this point in my career, I have recommitted to using my law degree and the law as a tool to promote social justice, resolve conflicts peacefully and enable change by addressing systemic issues and holding power structures accountable. I feel like I am coming home and becoming a combat engineer on the justice highway. During this week’s Dr. Martin Luther King holiday, we suggest that you set aside time to reflect on the question “Where do we go from here?” and the promise of America. Honor Dr. King’s legacy by serving in your community as a pro bono volunteer. I look forward to working with you with an audacious faith in our future.