Friend,

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us that justice is not abstract. It lives in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the stories we tell, and whether we choose to stand together when truth and justice are under threat.

At a moment when division is being deliberately stoked and history is being ignored and erased, Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community offers both clarity and courage. It calls us to build a country rooted in shared humanity, solidarity, and care for one another and all of the places that we depend on.

This MLK Day, we invite you to read and reflect on what it means to care for the places we share and the people who belong within them, and how we can help shape a future grounded in justice, truth, and belonging.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial at the National Mall | Photo by Abdul Gueye/NPS

Environmental justice and civil rights have always been deeply connected. Decisions about which communities are protected from pollution and who has access to clean air, safe water, and the outdoors are decisions about justice. Too often, Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color have borne the greatest harms.

This moment comes as the Trump Administration has canceled fee-free admission days for MLK Day and Juneteenth while advancing Interior Department Order 3431 “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” an effort to erase or sanitize the true history of our national parks. When access to parks is restricted on days that commemorate Black history and freedom, or when signs and exhibits acknowledging Indigenous displacement, slavery, civil rights, and resistance are removed or muted, we all lose something essential.

Read Sierra magazine’s “Black History Told Through America’s Public Lands.”

For many families, fee-free days and inclusive storytelling have been an on-ramp into nature: a first hike, a first ranger talk, a first moment of belonging outdoors. When those doors close, access narrows, not just to trails and vistas but to community, memory, and possibility.

At Sierra Club, we believe protecting the planet means protecting people. It means standing against efforts to whitewash history, erase hard truths, or deny communities their rightful place in our shared story. Black history is American history, and our public lands should reflect that truth as part of the living landscape we pass on to future generations.

Thank you for being part of a movement that understands environmental protection and social justice are inseparable.

In solidarity,
Sierra Club