We’ll hear the clichéd phase, “let freedom ring”, and perhaps forget that our nation’s “independence” meant freedom from Britain. But this is not a history lesson. It is a reminder that independence does not mean freedom, and freedom does not mean independence; one is not necessarily a consequence of the other.

Martin Luther King revived the phrase. In his famous speech he said, “The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”

That truth is self-evident, yet it has been tested constantly, and we still witness the social injustices as if he’d never said those words–an echo ignored.