Martin Luther King Jr. Day

[EC]

(excerpt from his famous speech.  man, i get goosebumps every time i see or hear this):

    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."

    This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

[EC]

So that was spoken in 1963 - 43 years ago.  I've been reading over it, and feeling uncomfortable about the references to the south.  And then I'm trying to decide why I feel uncomfortable about it.  Maybe it's the singling out of certain states.  

That's the passage that's in wikipedia.

I'm trying to think about what MLK jr. would think about how things are today.  Would he feel better about the world, or would he be frustrated by it?  

This may, obviously, open up a very large can of opinions.  But I guess the point of having a day that commemorates a certain person, is to think about that person, and think about what they said and did.  So I'm thinking about that today.

[ratsprayer]

i tend to wander during political rants, so ill keep this one more focused, or at least try.

i think he'd definitely be frustrated beyond belief.  he attacked the south and focused much of his energy there, and we've seen blatant race problems spread all over the country.  i take the example of the biggest city near me, cincinnati.  its a cesspool of racial tension, and it has to be one of the worst cities for it, considering its size.  there were full scale riots back in 2001 when police shot an unarmed black man (which happens a few times a year).  3 police officers have been shot in cincy in the past 6 weeks, and it shows no sign of stopping now.  its strange though because the part of cincy where all the good clubs and shops are in some of worst parts of the city, and i have no problems walking throuhg them at any hour of the day or night.  it seems to me its a problem with the authority figureheads.  most prominent rich white people in cincy dont even go to downtown, so the minorities know if youre visiting their area of the city, you must be all right with them, and they treat you well or with indifference, still not a bad thing.  i think as far as this area goes, people in general are becoming more accepting of racial and ethnic differences, but those in power (the city government, police, the upper class) are doing everything they can to undermine society's general pattern in accepting whats around them.

im sure this is still rambling, but its my $.02.  

MLK has/had a great message, lets hope it becomes more of a reality as each day passes.  

[ycartrob]

The focus being on the southern states was what was goin on. Blacks were still being lynched in the south, being refused service, not able to go to state universities and schools, etc... Those states were singled out b/c of the nearly daily autrocities that were occuring, plus the concentration of the black population was in the south.

King would be very happy (and suprised) to day to find out the US has a black Sec. of State. He would not rest on those laurels though, there's still a lot wrong in our community.

I truly believe the next civil uprising will be the poor. There are millions of more poor whites than blacks, though the percentages are greater in the black commnuity.