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“If not now, when?”
This was the searing question at the heart of Dr. Judith Josiah-Martin’s keynote address on Monday at the 2024 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Celebration, organized by the Greater Bangor Area Branch NAACP.
Josiah-Martin, a member of the social work faculty at the University of Southern Maine, explained how this phrase was a favorite of her mother, Olive Josiah, when calling people to action. It is a new favorite of ours, too.
“She would always say, ‘If not now, when?” Josiah-Martin explained Monday. “Therefore I stand here proudly in her shoes today, asking you the question, what are you doing today?”
We’ve benefited from this perspective, courtesy of both Josiah-Martin and her mother, and we think readers could as well.
“Token generosity is not generosity. You came here today to check off, ‘I did my civil rights thing for the year, check.’ I’m calling you on that, that’s tokenism,” Josiah-Martin told the audience. “If you’re going to make the legacy of Dr. King work, you’ve got to join something, you’ve got to say something, you’ve got to do something.”
If not now, when?
If not now, when will people stop pretending that racism disappeared from America and its systems decades ago? Work remains, for all of us, to fulfill America’s foundational promise of equality.
If not now, when will people realize that some of the tools that have enabled some civil rights progress over the years, like the Voting Rights Act of 1965, are being dismantled piece by piece right in front of us? When will our elected representatives in Washington, particularly Republicans, rediscover the once-shared notion that protecting equal access to the democratic process is a good and necessary thing?
If not now, when will Congress realize that enhanced supports it passed for lower- and working-class Americans during the pandemic helped make a sizable dent in poverty — particularly child poverty? When will lawmakers embrace a rare win and return to the basic conclusion that fewer hungry and struggling children is both a virtuous outcome and smart public policy?
If not now, when will Maine leaders realize that the need to address long-standing barriers facing the Wabanaki tribes is one of the great civil rights issues of our time in this state? When will state leaders recognize that how they move forward, especially now after incremental but unfinished progress, will echo in history?
If not now, when will we stop conflating basic human compassion and reflection with dismissive buzzwords like “woke”?
If not now, when will Americans realize that politics guided by revenge and designed to divide run counter to the defining principle of a nation that extends liberty and justice for all? Not for some, all.
If not now, when will we all realize that many of the looming issues of our time — like economic inequality, access to health care, control of our own bodies and personal information, access to the ballot box — should be questions of basic dignity, freedom and opportunity in a democratic country? And that they require attention and energy from everyone, regardless of party affiliation, ideology or political personality?
As Josiah-Martin emphasized, the choices we all make as voters matter a great deal.
“Let us amplify the voices of the unheard. Let us challenge the systemic injustices that persist, and work toward a society where every individual is afforded dignity, respect and equal opportunities,” she said. “Vote not in your own best interest, but in behalf of those not at the table. The Rev. Dr. King said it best that, ‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?’”
This question should be front and center for everyone, not just in the voting booth, but as we go about our everyday lives. And it leads us back to another question, from Josiah-Martin and her mother Olive: If not now, when?
