Prohuman Foundation co-founder Daryl Davis, for AFRO, argues that the deteriorated Lincoln Memorial marker where Martin Luther King Jr. stood for his “I Have a Dream” speech must be renewed just as America must renew King’s call for equality and unity amid today’s deep polarization. On the nation’s 250th anniversary of independence, he urges all Americans to stand together to fulfill the founding ideals of liberty and justice for all.
According to the National Park Service, just over eight million people visit the Lincoln Memorial each year. Totally oblivious to its existence, thousands of people per day step right on the marker denoting the very spot where Dr. King stood to deliver one of the most famous and recognizable speeches ever given in our country. The etching in the granite stone is now deteriorated and worn from all the foot traffic over the years, rendering it barely visible and unrecognizable today.
Dr. King’s marker is in need of renewal as is his dream in which he calls not for uniformity but for unity and brotherhood.
Join Us: Launch Event & Fundraiser
August 28, 2026, 6pm EDT
National Press Club, Washington, D.C.
You’re invited to the National Press Club as we gather to revitalize MLK’s stone marker and to renew his dream of brotherhood. Enjoy cocktails, dinner, live musical performances by The Hill Sisters and Daryl Davis, and featured speakers Avi Dresner, Lerone Martin, Brandon Farbstein, and Maryam Mehrtash.
We are honored by the backing of our Steering Committee, including former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup (who secured the original 2003 marker), Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Eig, and Dartmouth scholar Susannah Heschel, daughter of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who famously marched alongside Dr. King in Selma.
Prohuman Foundation advisor Brandon Farbstein this week on LinkedIn posted a substantial reflection on how MLK’s dream endures only through present-day choices of curiosity, connection, and belonging rather than mere remembrance. He invited readers to the August 28 Renewing the Dream launch at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where he serves on the host committee to renew MLK’s Lincoln Memorial marker and accept responsibility for carrying his legacy forward.
Renewing that marker is important. But a marker can only remind us where someone once stood. The harder question is where we stand now. Do we stay curious about people whose experiences challenge our own? Do we make room for a person to be more than the label we’ve given them? Do we choose connection when distance would be easier?
…A dream only remains alive when it continues to shape the way people live, lead, and see one another.
That is what “renewing the dream” means to me. Not simply preserving a moment from our past. Accepting responsibility for what we carry forward. I’m honored to be part of that work on August 28. If you’ll be in Washington, D.C., I’d love to have you join us.
Democratic socialists are gaining ground. But the Democrats’ shift left says more about tribal psychology than what most Democratic voters actually want.
Writing in USA Today, Prohuman Foundation advisor Lura Forcum argues that the growing influence of democratic socialists within the Democratic Party stems more from tribal psychology and purity tests than from what most voters actually want. She warns that abandoning the political center for ideological extremes leaves moderate and independent voters with fewer choices and weakens democratic competition for broad public support.
Political in-groups, or tribes, behave differently than traditional democratic (with a small d) political culture assumes. They use purity tests to weed out dissenters and fakers. Group members seek identities that make them feel both connected and distinct at the same time – psychologists call this optimal distinctiveness. As politics becomes more tribal, we may think it’s the candidates or their policies that appeal to us, but often there are other deeper drivers at work, such as belonging, identity and uniqueness.
Martin Luther King Jr. stood in Lincoln’s symbolic shadow and called America to brotherhood. Sixty-three years later, that dream is fading, but it can be renewed.
Prohuman Foundation co-founder Bion Bartning reflects on the worn Lincoln Memorial inscription marking where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, arguing that renewing the marker is about more than history—it is about renewing King’s unfinished call to brotherhood. On the speech’s sixty-third anniversary, he urges Americans to reject identity-based contempt and fulfill the promise of equality by seeing one another as unique individuals with shared humanity.
“I Have a Dream” remains a challenge to all Americans to redeem the promise of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution:
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”
Renewing the dream starts with us.
When our children learn the truth about slavery and segregation without teaching some to feel shame about the past and others to feel hopeless about the future. When citizens can argue fiercely without denying one another’s humanity. When we have the confidence to say that improving this country is our shared responsibility.
On this sixty-third anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, we can do more than remember his dream. We can renew it.
Help us reach our goal to restore the MLK marker and advance a culture of brotherhood over division.
Learn more about Renewing the Dream
Opinions expressed in selected articles do not necessarily reflect those of the Prohuman Foundation. We value diverse perspectives that enrich our understanding of topics close to our mission: to promote the foundational truth that we are all unique individuals, united by our shared humanity.
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