Reviving the American Dream — for everyone | Commentary

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. believed justice is not just a moral ideal, it is a policy choice. He fought not only for civil rights, but for fair wages, decent housing and the right of every American to live with dignity.

Today, that dignity is under threat.

Working families in Nevada are facing an affordability crisis driven by rising prices, stagnant wages and decisions that favor the wealthy over workers. From housing to health care to groceries, the cost of living continues to rise faster than paychecks.

Over the past year, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have doubled down on tax breaks for billionaires while cutting the programs working families rely on. They have weakened worker protections, rolled back civil rights enforcement, slashed access to affordable health care and imposed sweeping tariffs that function as hidden taxes on consumers and small businesses.

These are not abstract policies. They show up at the grocery store, at the pump and in rent statements.

Las Vegas runs on service workers, tipped employees, small-business owners, caregivers and entrepreneurs who power our hospitality and tourism economy. Yet too many of these families are locked out of the prosperity they help create.

Housing costs have risen far faster than wages. Recent analysis shows that Las Vegas residents now need dramatically higher incomes just to afford rent. Families are working harder but still falling behind.

The Rev. King understood that economic justice and racial justice are inseparable. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act did not divide this country. They strengthened it by expanding opportunity and removing barriers that held millions of Americans back from full participation in our economy and democracy.

Yet today, those protections are being weakened. Civil rights enforcement is being dismantled. Voting rights safeguards are under attack. And programs designed to level the playing field are being rolled back, deepening inequality and shrinking opportunity.

The economic consequences are real. In 2016, the median white family held more than 10 times the wealth of the median Black family, a gap driven by redlining, predatory lending and decades of exclusion from homeownership. Economists estimate this divide could cost the U.S. economy up to $1.5 trillion in lost growth over the next decade.

This inequality weakens our entire economy.

That is why honoring the Rev. King’s legacy requires more than speeches and ceremonies. It requires policies that deliver real economic security.

Lowering costs means protecting affordable health care, lowering prescription drug prices, defending Medicaid and tackling the housing crisis by expanding affordable housing and making homeownership attainable again.

Raising pay means ending the sub-minimum wage and ensuring tipped workers, the backbone of Nevada’s economy, get to keep more of what they earn. It means strengthening worker protections and investing in good-paying jobs.

Protecting America’s future means defending Social Security, Medicare, SNAP and rejecting tax schemes that reward billionaires while raising costs for working families. It also means standing up to tariff policies that drive up prices.

The Rev. King called for a revolution of values. Today, that revolution means choosing working families over special interests, opportunity over inequality and dignity over division.

That is how we honor his legacy — not just with words, but with action.

Rep. Steven Horsford, a Democrat, represents Nevada’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House.