As Trump is inaugurated on MLK Day, remember we are all part of these United States | Opinion

Monday, Jan. 20, is a day full of contrasts, even division.

In Kansas and Missouri, a little more than 50% of the people voted for the man raising his hand and swearing to uphold law and justice, representation and the will of the people. The other half did not vote for Donald Trump.

So that means a good portion of our neighbors are pleased with the election’s outcome, and a good portion don’t feel great about today. Here are some stats:

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance won 57.2% of the popular vote in Kansas. The ticket won 58.4% of the popular vote in Missouri. In the five-county area of Clay, Jackson, Johnson, Platte and Wyandotte, only Kansas counties Johnson and Wyandotte gave a very slim lead to Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

But that leaves a lot of people who did not get the election result they wanted. Mean-spiritedness should be avoided. However, gloating is also not what we need today, nor in the days to come.

This year, Monday, Jan. 20, is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Congress designated the holiday as a national day of service in 1983, marking the third Monday in January.

Some who recognize and fully participate in MLK Day did not vote for Trump and may even feel torn about what events to participate in. Others won’t have that problem.

So where does that leave us until Jan. 19, 2029?

It leaves us in the only space we have: reconciliation and a quest for unity. Kansas City area residents, we call on you to work together to make Kansas and Missouri the best places to live and grow for everyone, no matter how you voted.

What we won’t do, as we did in the last Trump victory, is ask the president to show us what he is made of. He has already told us what to expect. This may excite his followers, yet antagonize the other side.

However, we don’t have a crystal ball and won’t pretend to predict the future.

Economy, TikTok, mass deportations?

His planned administration may or may not boost the economy, change schools for the good or bad, ban TikTok or further dismantle personal reproductive rights. His plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants may or may not ruin the national workforce.

Why? Because Trump is not America — we are. Millions of voters are represented by a fraction of that number in Congress and in our state legislatures. And while many of those lawmakers represent conservative values, not all are in lockstep with one man.

This week and for weeks to come, America will watch confirmation hearings for President Trump’s Cabinet picks. Instead of cheering or jeering, let your leaders know what you think. Learn the name of your senators and your congressperson. Learn their phone numbers and emails. Get used to writing down your thoughts and voicing your opinions. Insist that they hear you.

This is good advice for Americans in any presidential transition, but especially now when we are so divided — even more than during Trump’s first administration.

Finally, what gives us hope is when we hear from you, dear readers.

Like Tej Dasari of Kansas City who wrote in to tell us about a woman involved in a car accident during the recent blizzard, explaining that a group of people of different skin colors, races and ethnicities helped the accident victim: “In this divided country, it was a heart-warming reaction to an act of God, with the help of human beings of all different walks of life. In this divided nation, there is hope.”

Gerald Valet of Kansas City similarly credited Hispanic helpers who rescued his son out of a car that was stuck in the storm. “Friends, I’ve been severely disheartened by the rhetoric of recent years, especially regarding our Black and brown neighbors. Thank you to those people who were angels in the freezing night. … It has resurrected a little of my faith in humanity.”

Jeffrey Ann Goudie from Topeka voted blue, but wrote that she wishes she had learned more from a Trump-Vance voter who came to her door:

“I was not proud of how I dealt with this woman at my door. Should I have asked her more questions? Yes. But instead, I let her get under my skin. At one point she even said, “I see you can get mad, too.”

‘Chaos or Community’ speech

It’s stories like these that encourage us. No matter how you voted in the presidential election, we all must live and work together.

Goudie, in particular, shows that learning from others we don’t understand gets us closer to becoming a real United States of America.

While awkward to some, we believe it is fitting that today is also the day the Dr. King’s memory is celebrated, because he spoke so much truth about how we have to treat each other.

In the 1967 speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, titled “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” — and it is not lost on us just how perfect this title is for today — he spoke on the importance of loving one another:

“And I say to you, I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn’t popular to talk about it in some circles today. And I’m not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I’m talking about a strong, demanding love. For I have seen too much hate. I’ve seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens’ Councilors in the South to want to hate, myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear.”

Happy MLK Day. Happy Inauguration Day. May the two events encourage Americans to stick with love, not hate.

This story was originally published January 20, 2025 at 5:01 AM.