Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." This quote comes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. It remains a truthful, powerful and concise description of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all communities. As Martin Luther King Day approaches, we are teetering on the cusp of history. A person of color and a woman are among the contenders for a major political party's presidential nomination. It is unprecedented, and it is an opportunity to address important issues that plague our society.

A headline in Tuesday's Independent Record asked, "Sexism, racism: Which is more taboo?" This headline is one example of an irresponsible framing of an important issue. A national argument over which minority group has it worse in our society leads us badly astray. Racism and sexism exist together, inseparably. So do heterosexism, classism, ableism and nativism. We do not need to rank them. What we need to do is address them together, inseparably. In order to address issues of discrimination, oppression and injustice, we must also talk about privilege and power. We must examine, not only our personal behavior, but also institutionalized injustice.

Institutionalized injustice occurs when the structures of our society benefit one group of people over, or at the expense of, other groups. Examples of this can be seen in sentencing disparities between white persons and persons of color in our criminal justice system for the same crimes. They can be seen in the wage disparity between women and men doing the same jobs. They can be seen in the fact that poor children go without health care and attend under-funded schools simply because they were born poor. When injustice is institutionalized it is not about a person discriminating against a neighbor. It is about our governmental and societal structures, all of us, discriminating against an entire minority group over and over again. Until we achieve structural justice, we cannot have an equitable society.

Racism and sexism operate in the same manner. At the core it is about maintaining power for those who have it. For those who carry the most privilege, who have the most resources and the most advantages, equality in society is an imminent threat to their power. Until we address the mechanisms of injustice and oppression in society, an end to racism and sexism is not possible.

More than one political pundit has suggested that this most recent discussion of racism and sexism distracts from the "real" issues. They have expressed a hope that we can move past this and get on with it. Instead, what if we stood still long enough to begin to address the very real issues of discrimination, injustice, privilege and equality in our society? Rather than trading calculated barbs at one another, what if the candidates really led us in a thoughtful discussion about race and gender? It will not be comfortable and it will not be quick, but we must create the time and space to have the discourse. It is our responsibility to do so, and we have an opportunity that we should not squander.

During the civil rights struggle, Dr. King stated that, "history will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." As we stand at the cusp of history, we must recognize that the struggle for a just society is all of ours. Each of us, regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation or ability, must stand up for equality and justice, whether discrimination affects us directly or indirectly.

Christine Kaufmann is a state senator and the director of the Montana Human Rights Network. Kim Abbott is an organizer at the Montana Human Rights Network.