Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served as the spokesperson for an entire movement focused on making the impossible possible.
For roughly the first decade of MLK’s public leadership role, Black people in much of the country weren’t allowed to vote. Yet, MLK believed it possible and persevered until the Voting Rights Act was passed.
For Black people navigating 2025–facing the daunting prospects of a Trump administration many describe as anti-Black– many are asking a very relevant question.
What’s possible for Black people in 2025 and beyond if we work together?
Here’s what Houstonians had to say.
Education
I am generally optimistic concerning the status and progress of Black people. However, the pervasive and systemic disenfranchisement of our people has evolved into a more sinister clandestine operation of economic and education seclusion. Black folks need to pool resources and become and remain diligent in efforts to advance the education of our youth so we can bridge generational gaps with success as a commonality instead of the hit or miss plight we currently endure. (Ft. Bend Justice of the Peace Roderick Garner)
Community
In 2025 and over the next four years, I think our Black civic organizations, our Black faith-based organizations, we should all do an inventory of our principles, our values, and where we’re going to draw the line as it relates to aligning with other groups, but in also how we maintain and prioritize the Black community. (Houston City Councilmember Tiffany Thomas, District F)
Economics/ Business
If we work together we can resolve our economic challenges in small business, education and resources. We spend more (money) than any other nationality while investing the least in ourselves and in external investments to be able to pull from in times of need. This is our opportunity to spend our money internally and be able to demand the type of service we deserve. (Teeba Rose, Entrepreneur)
It may sound cliché, however, anything is possible when we work together. Meaning, we can scale businesses together. We can mentor those coming behind us. We can collectively find ways to support, love, and grow healthier communities. People can actually be more and do more because of the power of support versus gatekeeping. (Vannessa Wade, Media Consultant)
Spirituality
In order for us to advance spiritually as a collective we must be willing to set aside religious differences and focus on the principles that grant us favor with God. We must find a way to pray together irrespective of religion. We must see “buying Black” as a spiritual practice, not simply economic. We must learn to fast collectively. We must learn to be charitable and kind to the least fortunate Black families. When we advance each other spiritually it gives us the divine energy to advance economically, politically, socially, culturally, and educationally. Black people must get back to our roots. We are the people of God. (Deric Muhammad, Activist)
Politics
I think for Black people in 2025, we have a great opportunity to recalibrate for ourselves. Over the last decades, we have been at the forefront of coalition building with other groups. The 2024 Election showed us that we are no longer in the coalition business: that other people no longer want to coalesce with us. So, I think we can look at this as an opportunity for us to focus on coalition building within our own community because we are not a monolith.
We should have a handle on our Black disabled community, our Black labor community, our Black military veteran community, and faith-based communities. And we should learn the lessons from the Democratic Party in terms of all levels of education and all levels of economic strategy. We should start defining a new message for ourselves and building a policy that directly benefits the advancement and protection of Black people in America. (Houston City Councilmember Tiffany Thomas, District F)
Culture
A renewed dedication to cultivating and enriching our vibrant and dynamic culture is undeniably within our reach in 2025 – if we stand united in purpose and action. (Regina Gardner-Morgan, Activist)
General
If we work together, we can reestablish the selfless and resilient Black community that brought us this far. Getting back to our roots is our best chance to ensure that future generations do not lose their identity and will allow us to better amplify our collective voices in a way that will be heard from City Hall to Washington DC. (Brandon Cofield, Lawyer)
Our liberation has always been a collective endeavor, a group project. “L’union fait la force” is the Haitian national motto and translates to “Unity makes strength” and this is our charge at this time. Our ability to survive is dependent upon our ability to become like mycelium—connecting each other to resources, sharing information between and amongst ourselves, and decomposing the remains of dying and dead ideologies, customs, ways of beings, and beliefs into nutrients that nourish the budding and sprouting of new worlds, new communities, new ways of being and relating.
Our collective freedom—the ability to dream and realize those dreams in a harmonious symbiosis where no one or no group of us must be left behind or placed upon the bottom is possible. Just as much as the antithesis is possible, the need for us to collectively dream our most delicious dreams of thriving together is possible. This is not pure audacity, but the necessity of all freedom lovers. This collective power to create is ours to wield, and the time is now. (Candice D’Meza, Liberation Coach)
Anything. (Marcus Davis, Entrepreneur)
