MLK – A Dream Abandoned – Part 2
This Martin Luther King Day the man being celebrated would have been 81 years old had not a bullet ended his life at a Memphis hotel in April of 1968. It is the 24th time the nation has celebrated Martin Luther King Day since it was declared a national holiday in 1986. But what is it we remember?
As we take this day to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is not only important to remember the man but what it was he stood for as well. There were many defining moments in the life of Dr. King but probably none bigger than his “I Have a Dream” speech delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on August 28, 1963. This speech was part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference was just one of the “big six” civil rights organizations that organized the march.
Along with his SCLC was the NAACP, The National Urban League, the predominantly black labor union group The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the Congress of Racial Equality. All had their place at the rally, but it was Dr. King that not only made history that day but kept the entire rally, even though attended by an estimated 250,000 people of all races, from being no more than a minor blip in American history.
In his speech Dr. King laid out what he believed and what he dreamed for the black community. Some of his dreams have been realized. But some of what he believed has proven to be completely incorrect and much of his dream has been abandoned if not forgotten completely.
Dr. King spoke of “The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community” and said that it “must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”
Little did Dr. King know at the time that this “marvelous new militancy” would completely overrun the black community and not only marginalize him but make him distrusted and ridiculed in his own lifetime within the community he dedicated his life to empowering.
He spoke of the horrors blacks faced from whites in the states of Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama and of his dream that one day the oppression of racism in these states would be transformed into peace and harmony. Little did he know at the time that the “marvelous new militancy” would grow in these states and throughout the United States to the point that blacks would no longer fear death at the hands of the white man but rather at the hands of each other.
He spoke of his faith and his dream “that one day every valley shall be exalted, and 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.” Little did he know at the time that in the name of God so called religious leaders would aid and abet murderers and drug dealers under the misguided policy of “Do For Self”. Little did he know that from the teachings of these pulpits radical groups like the Black Panthers, the Black P Stone Nation and other equally violent groups would rise up not to fight against the injustices of the white man against blacks but become the oppressors of the black community through murderous violence and drug addiction. And that this “marvelous new militancy” would evolve into the numerous street gangs that rule the black neighborhoods and control the community through intimidation, violence and murder.
His dream that “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” has for the most part been fulfilled. But he could have never imagined the nightmare that little black boys and little black girls would one day be targets of each other based on not the color of their skin but the gang colors of their bandana and clothing.
Dr. King lobbied and protested to end Jim Crow laws that prohibited blacks from their right to vote and dreamt of the day blacks would be able to politically participate in their future. He never dreamt that once the black community became a voting bloc their support would be bought and paid for by the Democrat Party through the enslavement of generational welfare and their individual personal responsibility would be replaced with unrealistic expectations of entitlement and handouts.
The country will honor Martin Luther King Jr. with a day of reverent remembrance. But on the streets of the community he sought to empower his dream of equality and peace and harmony has been all but abandoned.
