The Dream Marches On
There is no shortage of irony that we mark Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 96th birthday, while a White Supremacist is being installed as America’s new/old president.
Once could speculate on the tactics and measures Dr. King would employ on this administration if he were alive.
Dr. King was fortunate that his years of greatest activism came during the administration of presidents who understood the importance of civil rights and made constructive strides towards their institution.
Contemporary activists will not be afforded that luxury.
Whatever issues one might have had with presidents Kennedy and Johnson, the steps they took and the speed and timing of their actions, they will seem to be supercharged in comparison to the individual now occupying the White House.
But Dr. King would surely remind us that the road toward achieving freedom is never easy.
Despite living in a country that makes great pretenses of fairness and equality, the honest ones among us know that America is exactly that – a land of pretense and hypocrisy.
This country has always been one that promises freedom and justice, but those of us with darker skin know that the words “For Whites Only” has always been a de facto qualification.
The same country that sent non-Whites to Europe and Asia to fight for freedom and liberty back at home denied them equal opportunity.
Black soldiers who marveled at the progressive attitudes of Europeans during the World War were rudely reminded upon their return home that America would not reward their sacrifices with equality.
When we began to fight for our rights and liberties in earnest, many Whites were quick to blame communists for disturbing our supposed contentedness.
To these people, it seemed bizarrely unreasonable that we would aspire to the same privileges as Whites.
We must have been contaminated and polluted by some evil philosophy to dream of equal treatment under the law.
This attitude persists in 2025.
They say we’ve had a Black president. That proves that racism isn’t a problem.
There are Black billionaires and millionaires. How is that possible in a racist society?
DEI is cancerous because society is equal, even though a Black/Asian woman running for president must continually demonstrate her qualifications, yet a White male billionaire who had never held a single political office was considered qualified without question.
We already enjoy equal protection under the law, though we are disproportionately killed by law enforcement and disproportionately incarcerated.
Bigger loans are given to Whites than Blacks with the same income.
Affirmative action is unfair and unnecessary, but White legacy admissions to colleges and universities are right and proper.
We are not perceived as equal, and we have never been treated as equal.
Yet, we can and will strive to obtain our civil rights.
It doesn’t matter whether the person sitting in the Oval Office is for or against us, and there is no doubt whatsoever that the current occupant is firmly against us.
The life and legacy of Dr. King reminds us that the struggle for civil rights and opposing uncivil wrongs won’t be truly over until hearts and minds are changed.
Until that day comes, we must settle for permanently enshrined laws that cannot be changed by a conservative Congress or a corrupt Supreme Court.
We shall overcome, even if it is at the speed of one day at a time.