On August 28, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's monument will be officially unveiled on the Mall in Washington. This date was selected to remind the world that forty-eight years earlier, Dr. King delivered his inspirational "I Have A Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
August 28 has a special significance to black people for an additional reason. It marks the day in 1955 that fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Money, Mississippi, for having whistled at a white woman.
The two events may be coincidental, but there is little doubt that it was Emmett's "lynching" that energized the modern Civil Rights Movement, and strengthened Dr. King's determination to change the course of American history.
I had the extraordinary privilege to know Dr. King. For the last two years of his life, he was my mentor and friend. As his "student," I was not fully convinced that his campaign of non-violence would succeed. I wanted to fight fire with fire, to secure my right to equal opportunity, protection and treatment under the law "by all means necessary."
Patiently, much like a father counseling his rebellious daughter, Dr. King persuaded me of the need to reach out and touch the hearts and minds, not just of white people or black people, but also of the good people of America. I was able to see how his raw courage and passionate voice was able to "bend the arc of history towards justice."
"Towards" is the operative word for me, because like Dr. King, we have not yet arrived in the Promised Land. Yes, there's a black man in the White House. Barack Obama is there, not as a slave or servant, but as President of the United States. But one man, however lofty his title, doesn't erase the persistence of racism in America and its grim consequences.
The unemployment and infant mortality rates for black people are nearly double that of whites. The net worth of whites is five times higher than that of blacks. While making up roughly thirteen percent of the nation's population, blacks constitute nearly fifty percent of the prison population. Blacks are arrested far more than whites for allegations of wrongdoing and receive patently more severe prison sentences for the commission of similar crimes. Our drug laws, and the penalties imposed for breaking them, are far more punitive for blacks than they are for whites. I'll pass over how many unarmed black men are shot accidentally or with intent by police compared to their white counterparts.
The notion that we have arrived at a post-racial, colorblind moment in our history is a pleasant thought, but a fictitious one. It is, in fact, a canard. As Michelle Alexander has pointed out in her brilliant book, The New Jim Crow, the mass incarceration of African-American men today is but the reinstitution of a racial caste system under the rubric of being "tough on crime." What is needed is a get-tough policy on those who promote racial and ethnic hatred, and who support policies that discriminate against the poorest and the most disadvantaged among us. If Dr. King were alive today, I'm certain this is the message that he'd deliver to the American people.
As the day of his monument's unveiling has approached, I find myself reflecting on the significance of Dr. King's presence on the historic strip of land that runs from the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. I'm anxious to see and touch the sculpture that has been so controversial from its conception to completion. Looking at it from a distance, I'm not sure it truly captures the range and depth of his character and humanity. But I like the fact that the mass of stone out of which his full stature is carved conveys both a sense of motion and incompleteness.
America has moved a great distance from its wretched past of slavery, lynching and officially sanctioned policies of segregation. But the long march towards the ideals that we profess did not end with Dr. King's speech. The quest for justice and equality continues. The Dream lives on, and the legacy of the man who was determined to speak to, and call forth, the moral voice within us now occupies a hallowed place among our heroes and our history.
Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: Memorializing The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Prophet of Progress
Emily Tynes: Growing Up in the Segregated South, Struggle Brought Change
John Shook, Ph.D.: Secularists Celebrate Dr. King Too
Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial
Excitement builds for those behind MLK memorial
Area pastors say work remains on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dream
Monument to King is fraternity's dream come true
MLK, Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X
But worse is the somewhat aggressive folded arms and angry face. Dr King led a peaceful movement.
The statue sort of looks foreign to the US. Like a stature to a south of the border dictator or of Mao or something.
I don't believe the Monument really fits the man or our shared dream. I wish it was cut from dark stone, and that in front of Dr King perhaps children from different races playing together. Perhaps a bible held over his heart and a smile on his face. After all he was a Reverend and spoke of God in his speeches.
We need a redo on the monument because they gave a bad monument to a monumental man.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
But, I can tell you from personal experience that there are many minoity candidates for jobs that are both desired and needed, but who are passed over by medium to small businesses that are hiring.
Why ? Because, these businessmen know that some later disagreement with a minority employee could bring the EEOC and its armies of attorneys descending upon the business costing enough money and time to defend against as to make them fearful for the continuation of the business.
Additionally, in the public schools particularly, there are tens of thousands of EEOC complaints that are frivolously filed each year as a defense against low evaluations; I know for a fact that at least one teacher's union, a huge one, promotes this as a response to low evaluations that are prepatory to getting rid of non-performing teachers.
I think Dr. King would take a look at these metrics and he would reach the same conclusion: The EEOC is now a hindrance, not a help, to minorities and to equality under the law of the land.
Believe me, on-the-job racism and discrimination are major factors in the daily life of minority people. Whether we choose to tolerate it, quit and find another job, or file a lawsuit, we will all suffer for it in some way or other.
It all gets back to the core values we are taught from the time we are little children, and there doesn't seem to be much of that teaching going on these days.
Just think how much your colleagues could have learned from you in a more sane and sensible environment !
Quite frankly, I have seen so much incivility in our population that I think our culture has gotten off, way off, down the wrong pathway. If we keep eating each other we will, eventually, end up like the other cultures around the world that do so - constant, squabbling, war, upheaval, murder, and destruction. Just look at the Islamic countries, or Mexico, etc.
Sadly, all of this could be changed by just changing our thinking and our behavior.
Good luck to you. Thanks for the post too !
So much for Americans becoming "sensitive to the feelings of fellow Americans." Yeah, right...whatever...
As for the Alamo; it was originally saved by a Hisapnic (Adina de Zavala, the "Angel of the Alamo") but since it became somewhat profitable it is run and operated by mostly aglo types. BTW - the so-called heroes of he Alamo were nothing but scoundrels who have been gloryfied by a society in need of heroes.
http://thescreamonline.com/commentary/comment3-4/railroadbarons.html
p.s., I think you meant "printing the facts and not the fantasy"?
Be well.
It is surprising to me that in a country that actively favors black applicants to college over white ones, and has a black president, someone seriously believes that the laws against crime are simply a pretense for incarcerating blacks.
King would indeed decry the black incarceration rate. But I don't think that the man who wanted us to judge men by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin would say that the solution is more race-selective programs. He might instead start with advocating a reduction in black crime, black illegitimacy, and black drop-outs.
I assume you mean that you can't LIST my misperceptions because they are so numerous, not that you can't "say how many" I have. "How many" is simply a number. I suppose if the number is really big -- in the thousands or millions for example -- then it might be hard to quantify it precisely but even then you could give an approximation. Somethimg like "you have 5000-8000 misperceptions".
In any evemt, maybe for the benefit of other readers, and me too, you could list a couple dozen of my misperceptions. Or even just a few. We're waiting.
It would throw into sharp relief how far the Republican Party has fallen. Indeed how totally they have betrayed Abraham Lincoln.
In addition, it would clearly illustrate how the Democratic Party has evolved.
Yes, education is a good thing.
These are troubling statistics. They do not, inherently, mean that racism is to blame. It could be a combination of socioeconomic conditions, lack of education, and other cultural problems which are common denominators across a certain spectrum of society (regardless of race).
This is another of a long line of articles from someone with direct or indirect connections with Dr. King that laments our current problems but offers no solutions. When, if ever, will we hear some solutions proposed (other than throwing money indiscriminately at the problem, which has had no success over the years)? You can quest for equality for generations, or you can actually do something about it.
Peace and Equality to All!!
Why does everyone believe "equality" means everything is the same?
Do the blacks march because of under representation of white people in professional sports?