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The Fierce Urgency of Now: January 19, 2026

The Fierce Urgency of Now: January 19, 2026

As we honor Dr. King with his national holiday it is well to remember he also understood the intersectionality of civil rights and militarism. In his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize speech he stated: “I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction.”

January 22 is the fifth anniversary of the coming into force of a fruit of international democracy-The Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons-TPNW-which has now been ratified by a majority of nation states. Dr King would urge our government to support this treaty as well as to accept Russia’s offer to extend for a year the 2010 New Start Treaty which expires on February 5th. Without this extension, the last remaining treaty limiting deployed nuclear warheads to 1550 each will expire, accelerating the current arms race.

Published in Charlotte Observer 18. Jan. 2026 under heading: MLK and Militarism.

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PREVENTING WHAT WE CANNOT CURE: Physicians for Social Responsibility is the medical and public health voice working to prevent the use or spread of nuclear weapons and to slow, stop and reverse global warming and the toxic degradation of the environment.