We are standing on the fault line of American history—one foot rooted in the unfinished dream of the civil rights movement, the other toeing the edge of a nation flirting with regression. The question isn’t whether we will survive this era. The question is whether we will surrender to it.
In a recent conversation with DeMark Liggins, the newly appointed president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), I encountered something rare in today’s pundit-saturated discourse: moral clarity fused with strategic precision. Liggins isn’t merely reviving the movement Dr. King once led—he’s redesigning it for a new generation, with the conviction that resistance alone will not save us.
“We’re not going to outrage and impulse our way out of systemic oppression,” Liggins told The Black Wall Street Times. “The people trying to dismantle civil rights have been planning this for years. They’re systemic, and we have to be just as systemic in our response.”
This is not a civil rights moment that will be won with hashtags or hope alone. It will be won–or lost–in the trenches of strategy, organization, and unrelenting resolve.
A New Civil Rights Movement—Built for the Long Haul
The civil rights movement of the 20th century gave us federal protections, landmark legislation, and cultural breakthroughs. But the 21st century is testing whether those gains can be quietly undone—by executive orders, court rulings, and legislative backdoors.
We are witnessing a coordinated regression: books banned, DEI offices shuttered, affirmative action reversed, and “woke” weaponized into a cultural slur. The question is no longer whether progress can be undone—it’s how much we’re willing to let be erased before we rebuild.
And that’s precisely why the SCLC under Liggins matters now more than ever.
Founded by Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, and Fred Shuttlesworth, the SCLC was never just a moral compass—it was the organizational spine of the civil rights era. Today, under Liggins’s leadership, it’s shedding nostalgia and embracing what he calls “legacy, leadership, and love.”
“Legacy isn’t just about Dr. King,” Liggins said. “It’s about the movement makers whose names didn’t make the headlines—C.K. Steele, Diane Nash, Ella Baker. Keeping the movement alive means refusing to let it be memorialized.”
Leadership, he added, “is about bringing everyone to the table. Movement work doesn’t need martyrs; it needs project managers.” And love? That’s the engine. “You don’t change what you hate. You change what you love. And we love this country enough to demand better from it.”
This isn’t your grandfather’s movement. This is Civil Rights 2.0—decentralized, data-driven, and determined to make rights permanent, not provisional.
What Happens If We Win
Few people dare to ask this: What if we actually win?
What if the new civil rights movement succeeds where Reconstruction couldn’t—by building a nation where your ZIP code doesn’t dictate your lifespan, where your name doesn’t sabotage your job prospects, and where the promise of America finally meets the performance of it? Victory wouldn’t look like a parade. It would look like a country restructured.
It would mean Black children no longer have to outperform to be seen as equal. It would mean boardrooms are diverse not because of quotas, but because the barriers that buried merit were finally dismantled. It would mean a generation of activists can be heard without becoming martyrs. It would mean that the SCLC is no longer a relic—it’s an architect of democracy’s redesign.
And most of all, it would mean America finally practices what it preaches.
Your Role in Rebuilding the Promise
Liggins was blunt: this movement won’t fund or fuel itself—it needs time, talent, and treasure. “People think we get a discount at Walmart,” he joked. “We don’t. We pay the same for everything—and we’re doing it while defending democracy.” The call to action is clear: join your local SCLC chapter or start one; invest in Black-led institutions that protect civil rights; write, organize, mentor, and mobilize; and stop waiting for perfect conditions, because the movement is already here. If you’re ready to act, visit sclcmagazine.com —Liggins is building a platform powered by thinkers, creators, and community builders. He doesn’t need spectators. He needs architects.
The Final Word: Don’t Just Remember the Movement—Be It
Too often, we reduce Dr. King to a soundbite or a statue. But Liggins said something that still echoes in my mind:
“Talking about King without mentioning SCLC is like loving Kobe Bryant and never hearing of the Lakers.”
That line hit like a sermon. History won’t remember us for what we tweeted. It will remember what we built and whether we stood up when it was easiest to sit down.
We don’t need another moment. We need a movement with momentum. And thanks to leaders like DeMark Liggins—and the revival of the SCLC—we may yet rebuild the American promise, one act of moral courage at a time.
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