Matt Ortega, Democratic candidate in California’s 14th Congressional District, released the following statement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in reflection of the civil rights leader’s legacy:

Dr. King championed civil rights, resisted an unjust war, and lifted up the plight of the poor. In the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial on a summer day in 1963, Dr. King challenged all Americans of goodwill on the “fierce urgency of now.”

Today, we are confronted by that same urgency.

This administration has taken upon itself to adopt racism, militarism, and poverty—identified by Dr. King as “the three evils of society”—as national policy.

• A campaign of ethnic cleansing of our universities, schools, and communities powered by white supremacist propaganda.
• A foreign policy that is explicitly imperialist and threatens aggressive war for colonial conquest of our hemispheric neighbors and allies.
• An economic program of more expensive groceries and higher electricity bills for Americans, many stripped of their health care.

Dr. King wrote of “an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny” in a letter from jail. In communities like Minneapolis, patriotic Americans live out its meaning as they place themselves between armed masked agents of the state and their vulnerable neighbors.

To honor Dr. King’s legacy we must “carry the gospel of freedom.” The freedom of a just society; the freedom to live in peace here at home and with all nations; and the freedom from the chains of poverty.

He once commanded to “give us the ballot” because “there is an urgent need for dedicated and courageous leadership.” Today that need is no less urgent and in this election year we must use it.