The following are remarks Vincent deGeorge has written in accepting an award from the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee.

I am honored and humbled to be receiving recognition from our MLK Committee, and compelled by the weight & responsibility attached to the legacy of Rev. Dr. King to live into that legacy with these remarks.

The Rev. Dr King’s legacy spans so many traditions, that are so needed today:

In the tradition of faith, Rev. King spans Abraham, Moses, Jesus, so many saints and faithful to we people of faith today.

In the tradition of thought, Dr. King, seeking truth, leaves a legacy of thinking, speaking, to dialoguing, calling in to one another, and across divides and demands that we speak the truth — even, and perhaps especially, when inconvenient. I want to honor that by speaking here, in the legacy of King, to the prevailing sentiments of today, while not bowing to them, namely, American Conservatism & Christianity.

As an initial preface, I give permission to disregard this speech — if it is untrue, too radical, too politically or one-sided, or if the legacy of MLK is outdated. However, if in the legacy of Rev Dr King it is worth receiving, please receive it.

So in my first nod, to the prevailing sentiment of American conservatism, I want to honor the merits of conservatism which seeks to conserve traditional American values. And so throughout this speech I’ll move for an increase in accountability and belief.

In perhaps the greatest of King’s legacies, his contribution to the arch Justice, I offer at the onset our American Christian Nonviolent Tradition of Justice, from Harriet Tubman, to Fredrick Douglas, before reaching MLK.

Harriet Tubman, who taught us about Justice and the law. Tubman, who in the face of lawful, violent, outside government agents hunting people in her community – on our very Ohio River — did heroically demonstrate Justice — in protecting, harboring, and freeing those people from the grip of unjust laws.

Frederick Douglas, nodding to American Christianity, who gave us a most important diction between what he called, the Religion of Man versus the Religion of God. Douglas, himself a slave escaped to freedom, upon realizing that religion, specifically American Christianity, actively contributed to both the injustice of slavery, and the liberation of countless people from slavery, articulated a crucial religious distinction. On the one hand, The Religion of Man – which serves earthly power, actively harms people, and blasphemously justifies that harm and the service of power with the religion of man. In contrast, the Religion of God, which Douglas identified as serving God’s power in heaven, which actively helps people, and which faithfully justifies helping people and the service of heavenly power with the Religion of God. What a lesson for American Christian today!

Finally, the Legacy that brings us to today, that of our previous MLK awardees. It has been a privilege to observe you, to work with many of you, to talk with many of you before today. I will try to honor the legacy of MLK that you have built here in Wheeling.

Then, to the heart of this speech, a difficult, two-sided truth, delivered in the words of Rev. Dr. King that have only become more true in the 50 years since he said them:

There are two Americas, two Wheelings. And that is an indication of a deeper, flip-side of that same truth: that, today, Martin Luther King’s legacy is being rolled back.

First the two Americas; or, so that we don’t feel insulated by distance, two Wheelings.

In one Wheeling, here is prosperity. There is equal opportunity to work hard and succeed, equal rights and responsibilities of citizens, freedom allowed by wealth flourishes here–to vacation, get sick, enjoy recreation.

In the other Wheeling, there is struggle. There is lack and inequality of opportunity, second-class citizenship, too many are bound up by debt or simply not being able to afford not to work ­– a day to watch your kid’s thing, a weekend to attend a family member’s big birthday or a funeral, let alone a month to get sick, real sick, and hospitalized. As true today as then, Rev. Dr. King tells us this is the America of too many people of color, but also too many white Appalachians.

In one America, we are wealthy. We are the richest people in the history of the world. Reflected by more-than-adequate funding for ballrooms, invasions, new prison camps, new police headquarters, zoo hotels, or splash pads. And the ultra-wealthy are welcomed, courted, given first priority and held up. There are luxury tents in which to dine.

In the other America, there is poverty. That is what has trickled down instead of any part of the richest country in the history of the world. There is not funding, but cuts for survival programs — affordable housing, healthcare, drug and mental health treatment, even food. Compared to our bosses we make the littlest we have in centuries. And this poverty is not welcomed, pushed away, hurriedly hidden, not just eating but trying to survive in a tent is illegal.

In one Wheeling, we are healthy. Our life expectancy, quality of life, physical ability to work and recreate are high, on par with developed countries. And addiction and our infant and maternal mortality rates are low. When we get sick and hospitalized, insurance pays for it.

In the other Wheeling, we are too unhealthy. High are our Black infant and maternal mortality rates; preventable diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Our life expectancy, quality of life, and physical ability to work and recreate are the lowest in the country, in the world. Primarily for health reasons, our life expectancy and labor participation rates are lower than North Korea’s. When we get sick, we start a community collection.

In one America, policing occurs through community consent. Neighbors engage their law enforcement as neighbors. The level of policing is agreeable. There is desirable accountability under the law. And crime is low. People are people first, and few are criminals.

In the tragedy that a neighbor or officer is killed by the other, the community mourns, together.

In the other America, communities are policed, hard, by outside officers, agreement is not asked. The law is a burden, and crime looms seemingly everywhere. Whole groups of people become criminals first, people last. In the tragedy wherein a neighbor or officer is shot by the other, the community breaks, and breaks, and breaks.

In one America, people are protected by the law, but not bound by the law.

Whereas in the other America, people are bound by the law, but they are not protected by the law.

And the truth of those two Americas has a flip-side, indicating the truth runs deeper still: that today the legacy of Rev. Dr. King is being rolled back. In the legacy of King, I am obliged to justify that statement.

As it was with King, today again government agents are targeting people of color. As it was with King, today again there are arguments, even laws, making those people less than, even illegal.

In the legacy of Rev Dr King I am obliged to say that, again today, our government is perpetrating violence in the streets against their own people; today not by water cannon and hounds, but now by masked and unmarked agents and bear spray. And still again, by deadly force. In another nod, conservative Joe Rogan even asks of ICE “are we really going to be the Gestapo?”

In the legacy of Rev. Dr. King I am obliged to acknowledge that our government is rolling back and actively cutting-off the food, shelter, and healthcare that affords any person the dignity to say, “I Am a Man.”

From the legacy of Justice carried by King we break further and further everyday, as more and more people say, “just follow the law, and there will be no problems.” What a roll back of the legacy of American Justice carried by King, and Tubman, and Douglas that says, “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. [But] Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

Indeed, in the truth-telling legacy of Rev. Dr. King, I am obliged to say that today the legacy of Martin Luther King is being rolled back.

But does the legacy of King more than criticize, does it promote? Indeed, in the tradition of Rev. Dr. King I don’t intend to condemn; to call out, or to “cancel.” But rather, in the tradition of Rev. Dr. King to call in, to hold to account, and to change. And in that spirit I offer a call to action for us today, having reflected on King, and talked with our prior MLK recipients.

Firstly to our community leaders: In the tradition of King, I call for a recommitment to two great institutions, championed by Rev Dr King himself:

Our local NAACP — so that in the face of the disparities between the two Americas, two Wheelings, we might lift up and listen to our community’s Black leaders, recommit and support them, so that they might lead us from disparity to advancement.

Our local Interfaith Council — that great, collaborative gathering of our whole community’s faith leaders — both clergy and lay people — so that directly into our public discourse our American Tradition of Faith might speak morality and justice to our leaders, our laws, and to our whole community.

Secondly, to the general public, in the tradition of Rev. Dr. King, I call on us, especially supporters of King, to join a community of belief. In the tradition of King, I do primarily mean churches, but certainly also temples and synagogues, and even non-religious communities of belief. And I truly trust this task to, not our government, but to the conscience of any and every member of our community.

Why communities of belief? Because so many of the problems we are facing are problems of belief. Do we believe we are a society that helps our neighbors? Feeds our neighbors? Houses our neighbors? Protects our neighbors? What do we believe about government?

And, as importantly as formulating these beliefs ourselves, is to join those beliefs as a community, making them larger, coordinated, actionable, and effective. Indeed, if there is one change from King’s time to our own, it is the percent of King supporters who are part of a community of belief. If we are to organize as effectively as King, and carry on that legacy, must we also be organized like King?

What’s more, communities of belief offer a most effective means to increase that accountability we so much need; accountability primarily not of others, but foremostly accountability for ourselves. Accountability to our beliefs. Accountability that seeks not to cancel, but to change.

Practically, in that we are trying to respond effectively to our needs and the needs of our neighbors, we need to be in the same communities, communities that believe we will help one another.

Lastly, communities of belief balance the power of government. Of all the rights, or powers, we have over our government — perhaps none is stronger than our First Amendment freedom to worship according — not to our government — but to our conscience. If we have other rights — of free speech, to bear arms, to vote; but the government can speak louder, bear a larger arm, or prioritize money for votes – how well can we balance government?

However, the First Amendment freedom of religion is a right and more power that we the people possess that the powerful, long arm of government does not, and cannot possess; and what’s more shall not infringe upon.

So, if in the Religion of God we believe in loving our neighbors — the government shall not infringe.

If we believe in feeding our neighbor, in housing our neighbor, in caring for our sick neighbor, in harboring the alien — the government shall not infringe.

Nodding to our prevailing, American Judeo-Christian religious tradition, if we believe that we side with the downtrodden and exposes and redress injustices against them – in the case of slavery, in the case of segregation, in all such cases of the a power unjustly hunting down people of color — then the government shall not infringe.

In closing, I offer in the spirit of King a direct message to those hiding or fearful right now.

I’m sorry, Thank you. And we will not abandon you.

I’m sorry that this is the situation you are facing in America in 2026.

Thank you. Because your existence is a testament to the truth of our identical human dignity. Your existence exposes the lie of hate. And, in doing these two things, especially in this critical time, you are making us — even if through much pain — a better world.

So in the excruciating mean time, and I do fear the mean time, we will not abandon you. We will not abandon you. We will not abandon you.