In 1967 the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. released his final book, titled, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” While I am nowhere near the writer or orator that the great Dr. King was, I think it’s appropriate to ask the same question in 2024.

We are at another moment of choosing in this country, as there are people who are intentionally trying to rip this country apart and separate us once and for all. Today, on Martin Luther King’s birthday, multiple right-wing provocateurs engaged in an intentional and coordinated attempt to re-assassinate Dr. King by tarnishing his name and legacy. The apparent goal is to use those efforts to undermine, and ultimately repeal, the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. This evil and foolish plot would result in the dismantling of the entire civil rights legal structure at the federal level, putting protections for not only Black Americans but also other minority groups and women at risk.

I have written extensively on my criticisms of the excesses of wokeism at RedState, on Twitter, and at other outlets. However, I’ve seen very quickly that “woke” was just another way of saying “Black” for some, and it was only so long that these dishonest actors could keep that mask on. Not only is it evil to pick at our nation’s deepest and longest wound like this, but it is also politically stupid to do so at a time when more Black people are weighing their political options than ever before. I hope that this shows every grassroots conservative that there are snakes in your ranks, people who apparently don’t give a damn about winning elections. They profit when you lose. These people prey on conservative voters and manipulate their hopes, dreams, wants, and fears to obtain wealth for themselves. Motivated by bigotry and greed, the provocateurs intentionally create enemies out of potential allies while profiting regardless of the political outcome.

Many of them truly believe that Black people are the problem. Not the elitists who would still lock them out of power even if there weren’t a single Black person in America. Not the politicians who have been robbing them blind for years. Not the billion-dollar corporations that colluded with the government to send their jobs overseas, decimating the Black and White middle classes in the process. And that’s how the elitists want it. Elites have White folks mad at Black folks over spaces that the elites still won’t give them access to. There are some on the right who pretend to be populists while doing the bidding of the elite on a regular basis.

Instead of uniting, they choose to divide. By doing so, it prevents both sides from coming together and fighting to improve both of our conditions. Our schools are bad; White schools aren’t much better. American kids in general are ill-prepared for the 21st century economy. After Covid, the reading literacy rate for Black, White, and Hispanic kids all declined. Black boys and Black men are in a crisis of homicide, while White boys and White men are in a crisis of suicide, both of which are the results of self-hatred and a lack of purpose and meaning. Poor White neighborhoods now look as bad as, if not worse than, any majority Black or Brown ghetto in America. The rate of single parenthood among Whites is up, and the rate of homelessness in some parts of White America is up. We may have gotten here on different ships, but now we’re all in the same boat.

Instead of realizing that and understanding that it’s in everybody’s interest that we all have a seat at the table, these provocateurs want to start a fight over the Civil Rights Act. Dave Chappelle once joked that America will not beat China, because everybody in America is racist and everybody in China is Chinese. We must understand that if we don’t stick together, we will drown together. So where do we go from here? I hope we choose community, because chaos is the only other option.

Darvio Morrow is CEO of First Class Broadcasting and co-host of The Outlaws Radio Show.