Bush Making Big Return To White House
Annette Insdorf: The Central Park Five Premieres in Cannes
I remember April 4, 1968, the day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. I still have distinct images of my mother and grandmother sobbing and the black-and-white images broadcast during the special reports on the following day.
I'd like to think that those of us too young to actually remember the assassination of Dr. King are lucky. In my deepest optimism, I hope that America's younger generations will never experience the ravaging heart pain of an assassination, especially one prompted by racist motives. I'm not saying one kind of assassination is less devastating than another, but there is a particular mix of rage, sorrow and hopelessness that follows racially motivated killings.
This mix leaves toxic gashes in the national fabric. And once torn, our fabric is slow to mend.
I believe that Dr. King would be both pleased with America's progress toward becoming a fully equal society and unhappy about the places where we've stalled or gone backward. It's undeniable that we've come a long way since April 4, 1968. A self-identified black man with an African name wins a hotly contested election to become president of the United States. Michael Steele sits at the head of the GOP.
And many black people occupy boardrooms, run corporations, own homes and businesses, hold elected offices and enjoy the full scope of America's promise. At the same time, as the recent Urban League report lays out, racial inequalities in employment, housing, education, criminal justice, health and other areas exist as well.
If Dr. King were alive today, I believe he would be on the front lines, pushing for social, economic and racial justice. And I believe he would stand as forcefully against black-on-black crime and the anti-education mindset present in some pockets of the black community as he would against public funds being poured into our sprawling for-profit prison industrial complexes at the expense of inner-city public schools.
I believe he would be a staunch advocate for improving the sad state of educational opportunities for poor youth and providing affordable, accessible health care for all Americans.
I believe Dr. King is in heaven. And I hope he knows how much he is missed.
More On Dr. King
+ 'Black in America': Recognizing Martin Luther King Jr.'s Assassination
+ MLK Memorial Raises More Than $100M
+ King Family Photo Album
+ "I Have a Dream Speech" With Full Text
+ Time Magazine Interview With King (1964)
+ Stanford's Research Project
+ MLK's Wikipedia Entry
Comments: (23)
Add a comment
By: Tired of Poor ME attitude on 4/03/2009 3:55PM
I grew up with the words of MLK on the TV and Radio. I understood what he said and respected his dignity and passion. I am sorry that the real meaning of his messages is just a distant echo in time to the young and some of the old today.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Eric McMiller on 4/03/2009 4:17PM
I dedicated a book that I wrote to Dr. King and the rest of the people in Birmingham, Alabama, who we all have seen through old black-and-white news clips for over forty years being hosed with water and bitten by dogs. Why did Dr. King and his followers choose to challenge the inequalities that they were facing? The felt there was something bigger for them and their children to experience in life. They merely dreamed big and stood-fast to the moral principle that all men are created equal. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about the struggles we have faced and still face today, and there is not a day that goes by that I do not thank God for Dr. King and his followers. Everyday I have a mission. The mission is to make Dr. King proud.
Eric A. McMiller
Author
Before We Were Black
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Black Moses on 4/03/2009 6:35PM
The hell with a dream, we needed a plan. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad had a business, health, education, and a defense plan. I was on that first wave of integration and it is the worst thing that happen to Blacks. I was born and raised in the segregated south and I am still trying to find out what I missed out on. Integration planted a seed of inferiority, and made whites our litmus test. All the blood, sweat, marches and murders to be part of this broke ass country, we could have done this bad on our own. I am embarass to be part of people that begged, cajoled, and died to be with another race. Equality at another man's pace is nothing to boast about and if you study the history of this trangression you will see the hands of the oppressor is saturated with the blood of the oppressed. We needed a plan, not a dream!
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: eric on 4/05/2009 1:45PM
To Black Moses
I totally agree with you! If. African Americans would try investing the time in gaining knowledge of their history they'd also know the real truth about both MLK and the Civil Rights Movemnet that was just a process to "derail" black people again! The fact is that we have been conditioned to not want to know the real truth..that's called "DENIAL"! Many are still doing that today! Most blacks are all caught up in just about everything else that has little or no real relevance...like BV's. We've taken our eye off the ball decades ago! But, that's not what we need to be doing! That's the primary reason why we're not making the same kinds of progress like that of other races today! I rememeber a time back in the day when we as a people worked hard to make progress, but sadly today all we do is complain and as for working together...lol get real we don't even respect each other! Everybody is kicking our butts, even newly arriving immigrants! A people are judged by their communities, and family structure..well look at ours! It's just shameful! And, we know it too, but far too many of us just keep laughing, shaking our butts, and continue to say "it's all good"!
Report This
By: CST on 4/06/2009 7:24PM
Muslim…………….Islam
Are you not the same group of people who started the whole 9/11 fiasco?
Are you not the same group of people who are headed by a Osama Bin Laden?
Are you not the same group who killed a popular individual of the civil rights movement named Malcolm X?
hmm it sounds like your "group" has been conditioned to embrace hate and death.
Report This
By: FLLady on 4/07/2009 11:28AM
A DREAM IS THE BEGINNING OF A PLAN. MLK LAID OUT THE DREAM, NOW IT'S TIME TO LISTEN TO WHAT BILL COSBY SAID. HE IS NOT A FOOL, HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH. THERE IS HOPE FOR BLACKS & ALL OF HUMANITY IF WE DO RIGHT BY OUR CHILDREN & TEACH THEM THE WAY THEY SHOULD GO.
Report This
By: Ed on 4/03/2009 10:02PM
This deification of MLK by the left and the "black movement" is a farce. There is no more intellectual honesty. In today's black america there is no more "oppression" by the evil white man. There is no more being forced to ride in the back of the bus. the ideology no longer pertains to morality or humanity. There is a black President of the United States. The truth is today's America is that there is more governmentalized and institutionalized reverse discrimination against eurpean white males. So what is the movement started by MLK become? Now it is all about money. Period. Money through socialistic redistribution of wealth. Money through ignorant governemntal programs like affirmative action. Money through the political process to brain wash black america to vote in a robotic, monolithic manner. Wake up. The color of your skin does not make you special. take responsibility for yourself, just like everybody else. you no longer face any greater obstacles which are greater than anyone else. You do not deserve more than anybody else in society. Get rid of your crutch. We all have our struggles.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Christie on 4/04/2009 9:21AM
Well said. What a heartfelt recollection and interpretation of what Dr. King would be doing now.
Have a blessed day!
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Angie on 5/18/2009 10:21AM
Below is a link to a free flyer in honor of Dr. King. The global poverty statistics included in the flyer - those in King's time - and those in the present - are shocking. Passing on the information this flyer contains would certainly be an excellent way at both honoring King's vision, and opening others' eyes to the currently still dreadful state of humanity.
**Can you take to heart the words King spoke just 4 days before he was gunned down? That's what this flyer will ask you. Take the King Challenge - in his own words - and see. If King were alive today, he'd tell us to bail out human beings, not banks. He was about to mount a Poor People's Campaign before he was killed. 41 years later and we still need a poor people's campaign.
Here's the link to the King Challenge flyer:
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-f335080c.html
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: eric on 4/04/2009 7:18PM
The incident that stands out most in my mind back on that day was when Jesse Jackson "LIED" and said that Dr. King died in his arms! He's been lying ever since that day, and only exploiting our people at his expense!
Reply to this Comment | Report This