Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy

On January 17, the United States will honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy as an American civil rights leader. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Day serves as a national day to recognize strengthening our communities and continually working to solve social issues. Dr. King is globally recognized for his fight for many victims of injustice and for inspiring millions with his historic "I Have a Dream" speech. 

At Cummins, we share in Dr. King's vision by making room for everyone to succeed and by responding with empathy. And like Dr. King, we believe everyone has a role in creating an inclusive environment.

To celebrate and reflect on Dr. King’s principles, Derrick Christian, innovative leader, artist and entrepreneur combined his education and entertainment through spoken word poetry to write an original poem, titled REACH. We challenge you to reflect on what you are doing to create a fair and inclusive environment as you read and watch "Reach" below. 

REACH

We The People
Have been misguided to the think that difference divides us
But it makes us equal

Equally equipped with an individual set of gifts
To get success in our collective grip
If we let go of the grift
That difference divides us
So ‘We The People’ must decide to shift

To the next gear
Engineer our minds with ingenuity
Dedicate ourselves to idea of inclusiveness, exclusively
Purposely promote winning with the power of difference in perpetuity
We can alphabetize a list of what makes us different, but you still need you and I, you and I, U-N-I to create UNITY

So, in continuity
With the spirit of MLK Day and all that this dreamer had to teach
Let us
Reach

Reach past low-hanging, quotable fruit of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s past ‘”I Have A Dream Speech”
Dig deep
With what he encouraged us to sow and reap
If equality was his dream in 1963, then the 2022 reality is the next leg of the legacy he preached
And we must not do the bare minimum now that our collective consciousness of racial injustice has reached this historic new peak

We cannot continue to bite the fruit and choose to only chew the part that’s sweet
Then when tasting the bitter litter the remains at our feet while protests glitter the street
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” 
And the cost of injustice where we work is too steep

Corporations can incorporate at its core
How it wants to see the world be more