Or so we should. Martin Luther King Day is a day that most people look at as a day off (which I didn't almost have off but since the O so kind folks at SLAR, LLP decided we should have off "in honor of me" -racist bastards- I too am free) but should also take time to reflect on what this man did for both you, me, our parents and even our grandchildren. Of course there were plenty of specials on over the course of the weekend that documented his legacy, his dream and great strides made in the black community but there was consistent question of doubt - which was "Is Martin Luther King Jr's dream still alive?"
Part of me says yes and another part of me asks "why hasn't his dream come true?" Yes we don't have legal segregation in school and white and black can work,live and play together but Have we really gotten anywhere monumental. As Kanye said Racism is still alive but I don't think they conceal it - at all. I feel that all though we got through the civil rights movement, Black people as whole are falling further and further back in the playing field. Our schools are all mucked up, we continue to tear our communities apart with drugs and violence, there is a lack of black owned business than there ever has been before, AND we can NEVER seem to RISE together. We are an extremely selfish people, natural born haters complaining about sh*t that we could have controlled eons ago, and seem to have given up on ourselves. I as a YOUNG black woman will say that I haven't given up but I have lost lots of hope - its like OMG I LOVE BLACK PEOPLE and then in the next breathe when I see something else stupid in person, in the media, or just a memory its more like *sigh* Why the f*ck can't we get it together?. And to me that is no where near the dream of Dr. King...
I Have a Dream
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, 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."²
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³
...I think this is a dream deferred by settling for less, One day, I say ONE DAY WE WILL FULFILL OUR GREATNESS - I just hope its one day soon.
