A MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Psalm 32:8, NIV
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned us that midnight is not just a time on the clock—it is a condition. In his “Knock at Midnight” sermon, he spoke of darkness settling over a nation: confusion, despair, moral drift. If he were standing with us today, I believe he would say plainly—here we go again.
And the knocks are still coming.
It is knocking on the doors of young people who feel unseen.
Knocking on communities drowning in debt, gun violence, and disinformation.
Knocking on a generation told to “stay out of politics” while politics decides whether they eat, learn, vote, or live.
Dr. King never asked young people to wait their turn. He invited them to come along and stand their ground.
He reminded us that justice is not automatically inherited. It must be rightfully claimed. Passed down not just through bloodlines, but through courage, conscience, and commitment. That is what he meant when he told us the struggle is in your DNA—not biology alone, but moral inheritance and not deniable. You were born of people who resisted. You come from people who organized. You come from the loins from people who refused to accept America’s lie as the final word.
Yet today, too many young people have been told the movement is over.
That the work is done. That marching is outdated. That caring is optional.
Dr. King rejected that lie in “The Other America.” He exposed a nation where prosperity lived on one side of the tracks and despair on the other. Where opportunity was advertised in full color but simultaneously delivered in Black and White. Where freedom like fresh air was promised but rationed and renamed to some government assistance. That America still exists—and young people live in it every day through underfunded schools, over-policed neighborhoods, student debt, voter suppression, and a shrinking middle class.
And then there are the three evils Dr. King warned us about—racism, poverty, and militarism—still marching together, arm in arm. Racism dressed up as “policy.” Poverty disguised as “personal failure.” Militarism normalized while schools crumble and healthcare remain a privilege.
Young people: this is not accidental.
And it is not permanent—unless you roll over, lay down to never get off your knees and allow it to be.
Dr. King believed the greatest danger was not hatred, but those who sat silently by and watched it happen. Not ignorance, but indifference. He knew movements survive when young people decide they will no longer be spectators in shaping their own future.
The struggle needs the voices of the young people.
The digital technology and organizing skills that are required.
Your refusal to accept “that’s just the way it is.” This is your midnight moment right now.
The knock you hear is history asking whether you will answer. Whether you will carry the baton, not as a museum piece, but as a living instrument of change. Whether you will challenge systems, not just complain about outcomes.
Dr. King did not promise comfort—he promised purpose.
So, to the young people reading this:
Don’t wait to be invited. Don’t wait to be perfect. Don’t wait for permission. Answer the knock.
Because justice delayed is not just denied—it is inherited by the next generation unless you interrupt it.
And the struggle—whether you choose it or not—has already chosen you.
