A Night in 1968

It’s April 4th, 1968. A child sits in their living room when the television flickers with breaking news. The broadcaster’s voice trembles delivering words that would carve themselves into the soul of a nation: “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been shot in Memphis.”

For a moment, the world stops. People freeze, tears welling in their eyes, and families stare at screens, hoping somehow it isn’t real. Outside, neighbors cry, radios blare the same unbearable news, voices rise in disbelief. The entire country holds its breath, stunned, wounded, and lost.

Families cling to one another, others shout in anguish, grief pours into the streets. A strange and heavy truth now presses down: something essential is stolen from the American people, but his dream could not be allowed to die there.

A Breaking Point in 2025

It’s September 10th, 2025. I’m sitting at my desk when my phone buzzes with a breaking news alert. The words blur in front of me: “Charlie Kirk killed at Utah Valley University.”

For a moment, I freeze, my thumb hovering above the screen, praying I’ve misread, or maybe even a hoax like we’ve seen so many before.

The livestreams start flooding in… videos, headlines, shaky voices confirming the unthinkable. A crushing reality sets in, and my chest tightens and tears well in my eyes. A man who preached open discourse, love, and peace has been silenced by violence.

Social media swarmed with reactions. Phones ring, TikTok and YouTube reels replay footage almost immediately, and the nation fills with shock and sorrow (and some even with hate, anger and rejoice). Online, hashtags trend within minutes; my feed is a storm of grief, disbelief, and rage.

Across the nation, people are sharing the same collective gasp, as if the country itself is holding its breath. It’s stunned, wounded, lost. Images pour across every screen: people gathering in city centers, some clinging to each other in mourning, others shouting in anger.

I sit there scrolling, my heart heavy with sorrow and fear.  Somewhere beneath it all, a spark of resolve glows. His dream couldn’t end here, not like this.

The Echo of History

It hit me… I’m not just reading about history, I am living it through the ache in my body, the fear in my home, the conversations with my family, friends and community. The grief feels generational, as if the baton of heartbreak has been passed to us.

It’s been nearly five decades, yet the same question remains: Why haven’t we reached a turning point?

Every generation has faced its own tragedies and moments of reckoning. Every time, the same question resurfaces… the cycle repeats itself without change. Why?

‍A Nation Stuck in the Cycle of Division

In 1968, the death of Dr. King wasn’t just an assault on one man. It was an attack on an idea. It was an attack on the idea that equality, peace, and dignity could prevail in America.

Today, though the landscape looks different, the assault on ideas continues.

I scroll through my phone and watch public figures whether they are activists, speakers, or leaders. They are vilified, dehumanized, and targeted, sometimes violently, for daring to use their voice.

News breaks in the form of push notifications, livestreams, and viral clips. Hashtags trend within minutes, emotions spike, and before the grief has even settled, the tragedy is politicized. Each side rushes to frame the narrative, to weaponize the moment against their opponents.

The faces have changed, the technology has advanced, but the undertone seems hauntingly familiar. We are still people stunned, wounded, and lost by the violence itself and how quickly it becomes swallowed into a weapon of division.

I see how fragile trust has become, how quickly we reduce people to sides. I’m wondering if we can’t even see our clients, neighbors, or coworkers as human first, what chance do we have as a nation?

Are We Being Conditioned?

This is the question weighing most heavily on me. Are we being systemically conditioned to tolerate this cycle? To accept that violence and polarization are simply the norm of American life?

I catch myself doing it… scrolling, reposting, hardening before I even pause to feel the loss. I don’t want to admit I am part of the cycle, but if I can’t admit it, how will I ever break it?

The media tells us how to feel, who to blame, what side to take. Politicians deliver carefully worded condolences while sharpening their rhetoric for the next election. Yet, citizens are accepting the script.

We argue along party lines, repost soundbites confirming our biases, and overlook the humanity of those we disagree with.

But at what cost?

Have we not learned from the heroes who gave their lives, Dr. King and countless others, that blind allegiance to factions can strangle the very progress they died to secure?

Humanity Above Politics

If you come here looking for a political statement, I ask you to keep scrolling. That is not what this is. This is about our humanity.

I rage when I see tragedies turn into little more than political theater. The death of a human being, no matter their ideology, should first break our hearts.  It shouldn’t harden them into weapons against one another. Yet, time and again, we do the opposite.

We cannot afford to keep losing our humanity in the noise of division. If we continue down this path, every tragedy will simply feed the cycle: outrage, partisanship, and then silence, until the next headline arrives.

Was the only solution to eliminate them?

Where Change Must Begin

Real reform will not come from the top. It never has.

In the 1960s, it was ordinary people marching, organizing, refusing to be silent who pushed the nation forward. Politicians eventually followed, but the courage began at the ground level.

The same must be true today. Change begins with us choosing to break free from the labels and narratives imposed on us.

It begins when we protect free speech even when we dislike the message.
It begins when we honor the dignity of every life regardless of ideology.
It begins when we refuse to let tragedy be reduced to a political pawn.

It starts in your living room, in how you represent yourself on social media platforms.

Dr. King’s legacy endures not because politicians granted it, but because people demanded it. If we truly want a turning point, then we must demand one.

Approach this not as Democrats or Republicans, but as human beings committed to something greater.

A Plea to My Community (and My Nation)

Fifty-seven years after that night in 1968, I’m feeling what that loss must have felt like. What haunts me is the realization that we are still asking the same questions.

We are still wondering if we can rise above hate, still waiting for a turning point which never seems to come.

So, I ask again, with urgency and hope: Why haven’t we reached a turning point?

I plead with you… not the politicians, not the pundits… but you, the reader.

Let the change begin within yourself.
Let us choose humanity over hate, compassion over division, and courage over fear.

If we can do that, then maybe, just maybe, the dream that was nearly silenced in 1968 will finally find its home in us.

My Personal Impact

I am broken-hearted.  I am frightened for our nation, our youth and the next generation.  And it’s not just because of the loss of someone I was deeply inspired by, but because we as human beings just can’t seem to find a level of humanity and respect or understanding.

A thirty-one-year-old, husband, father of two, lover of Christ and political activist who never hid behind closed doors and did nothing but encourage the open engagement of critical debate was killed because he was becoming too powerful for the movement and beliefs he stood for.

Sounds very familiar. 

“Prove to me that I am wrong,” on a college campus where critical thinking and the challenging of our belief system should be fostered and encouraged. He was a voice of courage, conviction, and a call for truth.

Because someone did not like it, they silenced him in a cowardly merciless fashion.  But, luckily, just like Dr. King, activists, and men of conviction, can’t be silenced.

It is okay for us to disagree. It is alright to have a difference of opinion.

If you don’t like what someone has to say:

You don’t have to listen to them.

You don’t have to watch them.

You don’t have to attend their events.

You don’t have to shoot them.

You don’t have to kill them.

No one has it coming. No one deserves it.

We cannot wait for someone else’s turning point. We must become it.

Not tomorrow. 

Not when it’s safe. 

TODAY- with our voice, in our words, on our feeds, in our conversations, with our actions, in our homes.

If we want history to stop repeating itself, then we must live as if humanity matters more than hate- because it does.