Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s response to the frequently asked question, “How long will it take to see social justice?” was both unequivocal and hopeful: “How long? Not long because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. How long? Not long.” Dr. King was quoting freely from an 1853 sermon by the influential abolitionist minister Theodore Parker. Parker was confident that one day slavery would end, and, in fact, 12 years later it did— but not before America endured a nightmare of horrific suffering. Though by no means achieved entirely, the goal of social justice in the United States had by 1865 moved one huge step closer toward becoming reality.

The next critical step on the long road toward social justice was the gradual dismantling of legal/formal segregation in the United States— a tearing down brought about by the 1960s civil rights movement that Dr. King spearheaded. One consequence of that dismantling is that the “moral universe,” that is, the just society to which both Parker and King (and many others) aspired, though not yet a reality, is now closer to being realized than it was, say, 200 years ago.

Nevertheless, there is, as the biblical saying goes, “much land yet to be possessed.” For example, before he was assassinated, Dr. King focused much of his attention on the specter of socioeconomic inequality faced not just by persons of color but also by many Latinx persons and by disadvantaged white Americans as well.