Today, I had the honor of speaking at the 50th Anniversary of the Frontiers International Plainfield Area Martin Luther King Breakfast. In a speech in Chicago in 1967, Dr. King identified three evils, what he called the “triple-pronged sickness of racism, materialism, and militarism” that “has been lurking in our body politic from its very beginning.” This sickness has been chronic. It lingers to this today. Standing UP to these three evils is what’s called for. Standing up and fighting back. We cannot ignore when our President kidnaps a foreign leader. We cannot ignore when he cuts school lunch funding to hungry children and slashes social programs meant to keep our most vulnerable from the brink. We cannot ignore when masked men storm our workplaces, our schools, our courtrooms, and separate people from their children or murder people in the streets. This three-pronged sickness spreads like a cancer, consuming our humanity. it is our responsibility to treat the sickness that has been allowed to fester. We must fight back and then inoculate our culture against racism, materialism, and militarism. We must reject these 3 evils and stand in that discomfort. That is our challenge. I hope today, as we remember this great man, we remember that he stood UP in a time of challenge and controversy. In a time not too unlike our own. When Vietnam, Jim Crow, and rampant poverty were crushing our humanity. When we stand up together, we stand with him. I hope you’ll stand with me.