[Image: Kin Folkz speaks into a microphone at a queer black liberation event. Their T-shirt reads “Love is Love.”]

Tomorrow is the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. The official holiday in the USA is this coming Monday, and many events are planned for the long weekend. I plan to attend and take photos at one or two myself, which is why I’m writing about MLK Day now,  in case I don’t have a chance to blog again before next week. Black activists are using hashtags including #ReclaimMLK and #96Hours, so you can search on social media for actions in your area.

VINE Sanctuary posted the MLK Day Vegan Challenge to their blog this week, with the following summary:

VINE Sanctuary challenges vegans to spend MLK Day educating themselves about past and ongoing anti-racist struggles, and we challenge vegan and animal liberation organizations to encourage their own followers to do the same.

I encourage other vegans, white vegans in particular, to read the full blog entry. I left the following comment:

I also encourage vegans to stop sharing memes of MLK saying things that he never actually said, assuring people that King would be vegan if he were alive today, or using MLK memes to tone-police frustrated black activists who speak out against racism. There are plenty of living black vegan activists to celebrate. Check out Black Vegans Rock for some of them.

Let’s honor King’s legacy by letting black activists – of every gender, sexual orientation, class, and ability – take the lead in dismantling anti-black racism.