I. Introduction: The Unfinished Symphony of Science and Justice As the United States pauses to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 19, 2026, the nation finds itself at a complex intersection of historical commemoration and future-facing anxiety. The holiday, often crystallized in the amber of the 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, typically evokes images of desegregated lunch counters, voting rights marches, and the dismantling of Jim Crow in the American South. However,