It is the National Holiday honoring the memory of Doctor King, one of our enduring national heroes. It is a cold, brilliant clear morning for the commemoration. Dawn was lovely as the polar vortex swirls around us. The chill brings back an echo of the tumultuous 1960s, and the brutal assassinations and riots that shaped that decade.

There are echoes of that time swirling like the vortex around us. There is no news from overseas, but the President has placed 1,500 troops from the 11th Airborne Division to stand by for potential deployment to frigid Minnesota. The Army paratroopers, known as the “Arctic Angels,” are based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.

Governor Walz has already called up his State militia, not to impose order, but apparently to direct traffic or something.

If he surveyed America’s streets today, Doctor King might recognize some of the symptoms of troubled times. Reports this morning are of private militias being paid for by Billionaires. Well trained and compensated “warriors” are being trained to interfere with lmmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel as local police are told to “stand down” as they were in the George Floyd disturbances. And almost in the same place.

Viewed in the context of events of this 21st Century, it has elements of a better-funded and organized rebellion. Having lived through the ‘60s, we never imagined we would confront a well-organized nation-wide insurrection. So on this Holiday honoring an American Hero, we Boomers salute those who wear the badges to maintain or impose order, if necessary. And we will attempt to remind the Zoomers about the echoes of a time Doctor King would recognize.

And stand tall if they are needed to impose order themselves.

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra

www.vicsocotra.com