I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.Today is Martin Luther King day. It is theoretically in celebration of the life of Dr King, who was a Baptist minister.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
His thought and his dream? A nation where there would be no delineation of character by color. It was a great dream.
Unfortunately, though, it has been co-opted by what one governor called Special Interest Groups, people who are out to score political points.
I truly believe that Dr King would be appalled at the use of his name, his image and his dream today. I also believe that he would be appalled at the nature of the main proponents of his vision today. As a minister, many of these men look like hucksters, people who are out to get something and will do anything to get it.
We have a nation in which the vast majority of the nation overlooked the fact that the president was black when they elected him. It is a visible, obvious realization of his dream.
We have a nation that is rapidly becoming a nation of mixed race people. More and more you see racially blended families, living, in many ways, as Dr King said.
Yet the hassle remains, stoked by profiteers.
I am not black nor are any of my relatives, so it may be that my perspective is skewed. However, I still believe that Dr King would be appalled at the market made of his dream.
I believe in that dream and have nothing but respect for Dr King. But for those who would use him and his ideas for political gain and personal profit, screaming and raging to keep a problem alive after it is just about dead, I have nothing but contempt.
I sure do wish we could separate the two: the dream and the reality manufactured by others.
He was some man, full of courage and compassion.
No comments:
Post a Comment
To comment, post your comment and click the anonymous button. It would be nice if you signed it so I could know who you are.
You are welcome to say anything you want as long as it is nice. If I don't like it, or it is ugly, I will take it off, place it into the garbage disposal, grind it up, and allow it to be flushed into the Gulf of Mexico where it will be eaten by a fish and then excreted where it will lie on the bottom of the ocean until it is covered up by other comments.