CLEVELAND (AP) The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. changed the course of history for not only Blacks, but all proponents of civil rights in the U.S.It was forty-five years ago today that King delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech and it just happens to coincide with Senator Barack Obama's official acceptance of the democratic nomination in the 2008 Presidential Campaign, an event that has many people giddy with excitement and optimism that we as a people have "turned the corner" on racism.
Dream on.
Don't get me wrong. I wish all of this were true, but I have seen too much in my years. Obama's historic nomination is without question, a seminal moment in American history. It is also one of the most mis-leading occurrences of all time. Racism still pervades this country to an enormous degree and always will.
Dr. King was as much a visionary and inspiration as he was a naive idealist. His speech, delivered at the legendary March on Washington truly motivated people from all walks of life to take a long hard look in the mirror. Unfortunately, the very nature of racist people is to ignore good common sense and rational thinking and advocate misguided emotion and unfair prejudice.
I want a better America. I want racism and inequality to vanish into thin air forever. But I see a nation 40 years removed from King's assassination that is largely the same segregated mass of disgrace as it was then.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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