Two score and five years ago, he headed to Washington, D.C. to give a speech entitled "Normalcy Never Again" (aka "I Have a Dream.") On that day, our country finally began the healing process that President Lincoln laid the groundwork for with his great proclamation.
I can hardly imagine how Martin Luther King, Jr. would feel if he had lived to see today. In theory his dream has become reality. His sons and daughters have the freedom to play with children of all colors.But what about that other bit? You know the one about being judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin. Well, that gets a bit more tricky.
We have Civil Rights Laws, Affirmative Action, NAACP, and countless other measures to try to ensure that his dream continues to become reality.
I use the word "continues", because I don't think we're there yet. We've made a ton of progress, but I believe we have a long way to go. From Rodney King to the Jena Six, racially motivated hate crimes have not gone away.
As talented and controversial poet, Kanye West, coined "Racism still alive, they just be concealing it." It's all around us. You've seen, and I've seen it. Today we call it by different names, but prejudice will not die at the stake tomorrow as President Elect Obama takes the oath of office.
But one thing should happen. We should all pause to take a step back. Take a giant breath. And realize just how far we've come.
Tomorrow our country will turn a figurative page in yet another chapter in our storied history. Our Union may still be imperfect, but we're striving feverishly. And that gives me great hope.
Normalcy, never again.
No comments:
Post a Comment