Megan Imbert: [00:00:00] Hello, my courageous friends. Today is January 20th, 2025. It is Martin Luther King Day. It's also Inauguration Day and I was feeling into my emotions and one of the commitments I made to myself was I was going to do this podcast weekly. And some days like today, I was sitting with my feelings and observing and reading different writings, watching clips,
Megan Imbert: Videos of Martin Luther King, and I thought to myself, speaking up, using my voice, not being quiet, not being complicit, leaning into moments when they are uncomfortable, or I am feeling anxious or uncertain is the exact time when I need to and should be continuously using my voice.
Megan Imbert: A [00:01:00] theme that I will continue to remind you is that you are made for this moment. You are meant to be here, on this earth, at this time. You have distinct gifts, unique to you, unlike anyone else. And so, my hope for you As we go into this new year, new presidency, think about Martin Luther King.
Megan Imbert: How are you showing up in your life? How are you contributing? How are you creating versus consuming? How are you being kind to your neighbor? How are you showing up in love? How are you speaking up in the face of injustices? How are you contributing to the collective consciousness? Who are the people that you surround yourself with?
Megan Imbert: What do they stand for? Are they people of integrity? Are they loyal? Are they honest? Are [00:02:00] they authentic? Are they kind? What do they represent? Do an inventory of who's in your life? Why are they in your life? And how are you showing up in the world? What is the vision that you have for your life? I am sitting with some journal prompts including Revisiting what the vision of my life is and I've been writing quite a bit around the types of people that I want in my life and I think about that on a day like today where In my opinion, a person that was put into the highest office in the land.
Megan Imbert: A convicted felon that has been put into this office, not based on the content of their character, but on the color of their skin, which would be the exact opposite of what Martin Luther King would stand for. And I do believe he would be speaking out about this. I have concerns as well that our government right now is turning into more of an oligarchy where it's a few [00:03:00] people at the top, someone like Elon Musk, who can never be president buying a presidency people that are able to exercise their power for their own benefit, their power and wealth to increase over time as they make laws that favor themselves, they can potentially manipulate financial markets to their advantage.
Megan Imbert: So, these are things that I am concerned with. I do not care about the Gulf of Mexico being renamed to the Gulf of America. And I am feeling for the communities that their rights are already threatened with this statement around there's only recognizing two genders. My feelings, my heart is with the people that are already impacted.
Megan Imbert: So, on my journal today I said, Today on MLK Day, I reflect on the power of our voices and the responsibility we have to live courageously in the face of injustice, bigotry, racism, hate, and misogyny. Dr. [00:04:00] King's legacy is a powerful reminder that silence in the presence of wrongdoing allows corruption to thrive.
Megan Imbert: As we honor his memory, we must remain vigilant, holding those in power accountable to the people that they serve. Dr. King's dream demands more than hope. It calls for action and an unwavering commitment to refuse hate and corruption. Let's honor his legacy by leading with courage and ensuring our actions aligned with the vision of the just and equitable world we want to create.
Megan Imbert: So over the weekend, we witnessed the Washington commanders, the NFL team that I used to work for a long time ago. They delivered a flawless game. Securing their spot in the NFC championship for the first time in over 30 years, and there's a renewed sense of joy and pride among the D. C. Sports fans. So why would I mention the commanders during this MLK Day journal post? [00:05:00] I have long admired the risk takers, the change makers, and the truth tellers. This milestone wouldn't have been possible without the bravery of the former employees. Myself included, who risked everything to shine a light on the toxic workplace culture and billionaire owner Dan Snyder.
Megan Imbert: It took years of persistence, action, and a refusal to back down despite intimidation and cover ups, all to demand safe workplaces for everyone. When I was reflecting today and I was thinking about Martin Luther King and I was thinking about the presidency and I was thinking about these systems and structures and I couldn't help but remember each of us has power within our voice.
Megan Imbert: And I don't want us to ever underestimate that power and the collective impact to be able to do what's right, even when those odds seem stacked against you.
Megan Imbert: I was also reflecting earlier this week [00:06:00] around Jaiya John book, Daughter Drink This Water, a book of sacred love. And a quote that stuck out to me was, humans use beliefs as weapons in ego combat. If you truly experience what is sacred, it can free you from the illusion that belief is greater than truth.
Megan Imbert: Spend your life soaked in truth. Speak exude. See seed, hear, act, feel, reflect, inspire, illuminate, reflect truth.
Megan Imbert: What is truth? Over the next four years, as we see very wealthy people running the social media landscape, we're really going to need to have our discernment around what truth is and being curious, we need to be intellectually curious. We cannot be lazy and I wanted to reflect on everything that's coming in 2025 as well in terms of discernment of the truth and this time [00:07:00] in human history and cultivating our intuition the call to courage has never been louder. The world is shifting at an unprecedented pace. Rapid advancements in technology, the relentless spread of misinformation, and the collective noise of fear threaten to cloud our clarity and fracture our connection to truth and to each other.
Megan Imbert: We are not powerless. Now is the time to trust in our intuition, to cultivate self reliance amidst any chaos, and to stand rooted in who we are. Fear will try to convince us to shrink, to doubt, to surrender to the confusion. But courage asks something greater of us, to rise above the noise, think critically, and to feel deeply.
Megan Imbert: The evolution of humanity depends on each of us raising our consciousness. By choosing to be intentional with our energy, discerning with the information we consume, and unwavering in our self trust and safety, we become the anchors of stability the [00:08:00] world so desperately needs.
Megan Imbert: And as I reflect on how I want to approach The year. I also really think about who are the people I'm spending time with? What do they represent? Are they in alignment with the person that I am? And I'm going to probably rewrite this in terms of it being more of a poem for myself, but I wrote. This is a reminder to myself to be intentional with the people I surround myself with.
Megan Imbert: I am choosing those who see my worth, who celebrate my victories, and offer the same considerations that I do. These are the ones who I believe will hold space for my expansion and help my vision grow. As I evolve into my full queendom, I am reminded, a queen does not shrink to fit into someone else's world.
Megan Imbert: She creates her own. She doesn't chase relationships, beg to be chosen or understood. She, I, choose to fill my life intentionally with other [00:09:00] queens that fuel each other's flames. There's something magnetic about a woman fully anchored in her queen energy. She doesn't demand respect, she commands it silently through the way she carries herself, speaks her truth courageously, and shows up in the world
Megan Imbert: rooted in awareness. Her power isn't loud or domineering. It's steady, intentional, and deeply rooted in love. Love of self and for the world. When you're in her presence, you feel it. The way she walks into a room and subtly shifts the energy. The way her worthiness invites you to rise higher. Being seen by someone like this is transformative.
Megan Imbert: It's not just about them noticing your light. It's about them reflecting it back to you, amplifying it and reminding you of the queen within yourself. Remember your power, step into it and the entire world will change. I think it's a perfect time to do an inventory of how are you showing up in the world? Who are the people you surround yourself with? [00:10:00] How are you showing up and who are the people you're surrounding yourself with?
Megan Imbert: And I am going to take some time to read a letter from the Birmingham jail by Dr. King.
Megan Imbert: My hope today is that you remember your power and that your voice matters and it can make a difference if you choose to step into it. If you choose to not let fear or judgment Take over.
Megan Imbert: I'm going to read parts of the letter from a Birmingham jail by Martin Luther King dated April 16th, 1963,
Megan Imbert: We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow provincial outside agitator idea. Anyone who lives in the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.
Megan Imbert: In any nonviolent campaign, there are four basic steps, [00:11:00] collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, negotiation, self purification and direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gain saying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community.
Megan Imbert: Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. It's ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. . There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation.
Megan Imbert: There are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers, but the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.
Megan Imbert: My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resistor may sound rather shocking, but I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly [00:12:00] opposed violent tension, but there's a type of constructive nonviolent tension, which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to unfeathered realms of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice.
Megan Imbert: and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in a monologue rather than dialogue. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. [00:13:00] Lamentably it is historical fact that privilege groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.
Megan Imbert: We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed.
Megan Imbert: Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was well timed in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word wait. It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This wait has almost always meant never.
Megan Imbert: We must come to see with one of the distinguished jurists that justice too long delayed is justice denied. We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at a horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch [00:14:00] counter.
Megan Imbert: Perhaps it's easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, wait, but when you have seen vicious mobs, lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim, when you have seen hateful policemen, curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters, when you see the vast majority of your 20 million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society, when you suddenly find your tongue twisted in your speech, slammering as you seek to explain to your 6 year old daughter, why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that fun town is closed to color children and see ominous clouds of inferiority, beginning to form in her little mental sky and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people when you have to concoct [00:15:00] an answer for a five year old son who is asking, Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?
Megan Imbert: When you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile, because no motel will accept you when you're humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs, reading white and colored when your first name becomes. The N word, your middle name becomes boy, however old you are, and your last name becomes John and your wife and mother are never given the respected title, Mrs.
Megan Imbert: When you were hired by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro living constantly at tiptoe stands, never quite knowing what to expect next and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments. When you are forever fighting.
Megan Imbert: A disgenerating sense of nobody ness, then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and [00:16:00] men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, Sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over your willingness to break laws.
Megan Imbert: This is certainly a legitimate concern, since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools. At first glance, it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask, how can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?
Megan Imbert: The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws, just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying the laws. One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey the laws, conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St.
Megan Imbert: Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all.
Megan Imbert: Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or [00:17:00] unjust? A just law is a man made code that with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that Is out of harmony with the moral law to put in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas and unjust laws, a human law that is rooted in eternal law and natural law.
Megan Imbert: Any law that uplifts human personality is just any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority, segregation to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber substitutes an I it relationship for an thouow relationship and ending up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence, segregation is not only politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and [00:18:00] sinful.
Megan Imbert: I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscious tells him is unjust And who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscious of the community over its injustice is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
Megan Imbert: We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was legal. And everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was illegal. It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, am sure that had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers.
Megan Imbert: If today I lived in communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's anti religious laws. I must make two confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years, I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate.
Megan Imbert: I have almost reached the regrettable [00:19:00] conclusion that the Negroes great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the white citizens counselor or the KKK, but the white moderate. who is more devoted to order than to justice,
Megan Imbert: Which is the absence of tension to a positive piece, which is the presence of justice who constantly says, I agree with you and the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a more convenient season.
Megan Imbert: Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and that when they fail [00:20:00] in this purpose, they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
Megan Imbert: I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tensions in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight to a substantial and positive peace in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality.
Megan Imbert: Actually, we would engage in nonviolent direct action. Are not the creators of tension. We merely bring it to the surface, the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with, like a boil that can never be cured. So long as it's covered up, but must be open with all of its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light.
Megan Imbert: Injustice must be exposed with all the tension. It's exposure creates to the light of human conscience and the air of the [00:21:00] national opinion before it can be cured.
Megan Imbert: Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber. I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes, all Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it's possible that you are in too great of a religious hurry is taking Christianity almost 2000 years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to a rational notion. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth. Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills.
Megan Imbert: Actually, time itself is neutral. It can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more, I feel the people of ill will have used time more and more effectively than people of good will. [00:22:00] We will have to repent in this generation, not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.
Megan Imbert: Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes to the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God. And without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively in the knowledge that the time is always right to do right.
Megan Imbert: Now is the time to make the real promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.
Megan Imbert: Was not Jesus an extremist for love? Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you? Was not Amos an [00:23:00] extremist for justice? Lest justice roll down the waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel?
Megan Imbert: I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Was not Martin Luther an extremist? Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise, so help me God. And John Bunyan. I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience. In Abraham Lincoln, this nation cannot survive half slave and half free.
Megan Imbert: In Thomas Jefferson, we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. So, the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? In the dramatic scene on Calvary's Hill, three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime, the crime of extremism.
Megan Imbert: Two were extremists for immortality and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus [00:24:00] Christ, was an extremist for love, truth, and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation, and the world are in dire need of creative extremists. I I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic. Perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed and still fewer have the vision to see the injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action.
Megan Imbert: So I urge you on this Martin Luther King Day to Go back, read the letters, watch movies like Selma, read the books, listen to our black brothers and sisters, speak up when you see injustices. We cannot have silence. We cannot be okay and [00:25:00] content.
Megan Imbert: We cannot be content with injustice. We cannot be content with people being treated as less than human. I believe we take our rights for granted in this country.
Megan Imbert: I am thankful that I've come to a place where I use my voice and I believe I use it for good. I've said time and time again, I do not want to be divisive, , and the actions I've made with my life, the bravery, , the courage, as I mentioned, something as trivial as the NFL in this podcast,
Megan Imbert: but it is systemic. It is a microcosm of society with billionaire owners at the top and players on the field
Megan Imbert: leadership matters. Integrity matters, how we treat each other matters, and today it was not lost on me [00:26:00] that it was an inauguration as well as Martin Luther King Day.
Megan Imbert: I want to have reverence for the office of President of the United States. I want to have respect and reverence for these positions of power. And at the same time, depending on the promises that have been made, I will not sit back quietly. If basic human rights are threatened,
Megan Imbert: I will not sit back.
Megan Imbert: And I think we all need to make choices with how are we showing up in our lives. Think about the vision of the country you want to live in, the household that you run.
Megan Imbert: It starts with within your four walls. And then it's the workplace. It's your community. How are we showing up for one another? That's been the theme of the past few episodes with the fires in LA., How are [00:27:00] you looking out for your neighbor? How are you showing up in the world? How are you holding yourself accountable as well as others?
Megan Imbert: Radical responsibility. How are you being responsible for the energy that you bring into spaces and places?
Megan Imbert: And I mentioned before, I didn't really want to do the podcast today, I've been in a very reflective, introspective mood today, and I've been journaling quite a bit. But I wanted to get on here and just reflect a bit on the fact that your life is significant. Your neighbor's life is significant.
Megan Imbert: Your voice matters, your freedoms matter, and I have been so intentional with the people that are in my world, in my spaces, that if you're not in the trenches with me, I mean, you can, you can watch, but we can't have the moderate, we can't have the quiet, [00:28:00] privileged person, and I really hope you take time to reflect on all of the things, Even if something doesn't impact you personally. An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere
Megan Imbert: I'm going to finish out this episode with a few of Martin Luther King Jr's quotes. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Megan Imbert: If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live
Megan Imbert: on some positions cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? And vanity comes along and asks the questions, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but [00:29:00] he must do it because conscience Tells him it is right.
Megan Imbert: Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem, but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is a moral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding.
Megan Imbert: It seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.
Megan Imbert: Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.
Megan Imbert: In the process [00:30:00] of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
Megan Imbert: What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive. And that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Megan Imbert: I hope you have a peaceful week and take time to do that inventory of the vision of your life. And what do you want to stand for? What are your values? What matters to you? How are you showing up for someone else? How are you showing up for yourself? How are you using your voice? I hope that you step out of fear and into courage.
Megan Imbert: Thank you for listening.