Forty-seven years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
I listen to it or watch it each year because his message is just as true today as it was in 1963. If you haven’t watched or listened to it in awhile, it’s time for a refresher:
In 1963, racial segregation was the law of the land. It legally changed in 1964 with passage of the Civil Rights Act, but there are still some white people who quietly discriminate against people of color whenever they can get away with it.
Civil rights are still an issue today. It seems every group who is somehow different, by not just race, but religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and socioeconomic class (the poor) is still suffering some form or degree of discrimination.
Every minority group who has succeeded in obtaining their Constitutional rights has not brought other similar groups along with them. Minority groups are still fighting for full civil rights all the way to the Supreme Court. In the land of the free, this is a legal and moral outrage. Our Constitution guarantees equal rights for all, yet most states and the federal government have laws on their books or amendments to their constitutions that specifically deny rights to certain minority groups. The only way to get these laws and amendments overturned is through the court system.
The worst equal rights problem America suffers today is the most insidious, that whites should fear non-whites, whether they are black, Asian, middle-eastern, Hispanic or of mixed race. A vocal minority of white people are beginning to realize that whites are not the majority race in America anymore, and they are scared. The right-wing media feeds this fear as often as they can, which is most every day.
Another disturbing trend is many people don’t understand the Constitution’s language. Tea Party candidates for the upcoming November election interpret freedom of religion to mean their freedom to impose their religion and beliefs on the American people. Others claim the government should stay out of private business completely, that regulations that protect individual Americans are unconstitutional. For example, BP shouldn’t have to pay in full for the disaster they caused in the Gulf of Mexico or help the people whose lives they destroyed.
Then, there is Glenn Beck and his gathering for freedom in Washington, D.C. today. He claims divine providence moved him to schedule his gathering for August 28, on the anniversary of Dr. King’s speech. His group was primarily white. How he can think that white people are somehow being discriminated against is beyond my comprehension. The only thing I can think of is he considers rights a zero-sum game, and when others gain rights, whites lose rights. When everyone has the same rights, those who had the rights while others didn’t lose power. Maybe that’s what he’s afraid of, the loss of white power.
Mr. Beck should heed Dr. King’s words:
In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
Whites who fear other races, religions, sexual orientations and social classes must grow to meet the challenge of a changing America. At present, they are throwing a temper-tantrum that they are not the ruling class any longer. They remind me of toddlers who don’t want to share their toys or play well with others. They remind me of children who would rather take their bat, ball, gloves and bases and go home than play with others on a level playing field.
Many of us have come to realize that Dr. King’s words are just as true today as they were in 1963 and throughout the civil rights movement: that every American’s freedom is inextricably bound to every other American’s freedom. We cannot walk alone. Mr. Beck and his ilk must learn the same lesson or be judged negatively by history as the people who fought against equality and progress.
civil rights, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., equality for all Americans, I Have a Dream, justice for all
September 5th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Hi Sherri,
What a fabulous post — and a timely reminder of freedoms hard won
Lance Nelson´s last [type] ..Ski Hire And Ski Lessons- Offer Launch For Subscribers Only
September 5th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I agree with you on most points. However there is one thing that whites are taking the back seat on. if you want to get scholarships for college if you are white it is much harder to get them. Most scholarships other then sports go to people of different colors, not whites. Trust me I have been there with 3 children. If your last name isn’t on the list with the colors you loss.
That is ok, because we do find a way with out all the help that is offered to others. It makes us stronger.
Thanks Sherri for all the info. Good article.
Debbie
Debbie @ Happy Maker´s last [type] ..Choose happiness with self-acceptance
September 5th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Hi Debbie,
My sister and I were there, too, competing for scholarships and grant money. We both worked our way through an in-state public university, and both of us had a small academic scholarship that was family needs-based. I was older, so I got grants for awhile (thanks to President Carter; no thanks to President Reagan). My sister, being younger, didn’t qualify for grants because I was getting grants, and she was getting child support because she was a minor when our parents divorced, so she had to borrow earlier than I had to.
We also had the experience of attending fully integrated public schools in New Orleans before the south was integrated, so competing with other races became a non-issue. We were the minority race in our schools. That early racial integration happened because the NFL required New Orleans to integrate its schools before they could have a team, the Saints.
What changes your status the most is how your FAFSA comes out. They calculate specific required family and student contributions before calculating a score that determines whether you qualify for grants and guaranteed loans, and how much. A student’s contribution counts for a much higher percentage of the contribution than the family as a whole because it is assumed the student is working to pay for school. Married students with families or single parents have circumstances that change their scores as well. Even the value of your house and what percentage of it you own affects your score.
Scholarships have all sorts of requirements, and there are literally millions of scholarships. Some are economic, some are career-based, some are for veterans, some are for academic performance, music, sports, etc. When competing with everyone equally, it seems whites aren’t getting scholarships at the same rate, which is true. There is a lot more competition, and a lot of that competition is poorer than middle-class white families. Like everyone who wants a scholarship, we have to work harder to find one or more for which we meet the requirements. Sometimes those scholarships are rather obscure.
I disagree that whites are taking the back seat. We’re just having to compete on a level playing field with everyone else. We don’t have the advantage of being white anymore, and I think that’s the way it should be. It makes us all stronger to have to compete with everyone. It’s also the way of the world.
Sherri
September 5th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Hi Lance,
Thank you. I felt with all the anti-Islamic and anti-gay rhetoric flying around that people need to be reminded that America tends to discriminate and makes affected classes fight for their rights, either politically or through the courts. In the main country on Earth based on freedom and equality, we have a lot of inequality, and it’s taking a long time to fix all the wrongs.
For some reason, if people can’t hate one group, they choose to hate another because they are different in some way. It seems there may always be a small group who will hate those who are different and assume they are somehow superior to those minority groups. I think a lot fewer people are that way with each new generation, but I’m not sure when the haters will finally become extinct.
Dr. King’s dream still has a way to go before it is truly fulfilled. I think we are making progress, though.
Sherri
September 6th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Great reminder! Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream Speech is timeless and enduring. And, seeing what tends to happen to the likes of Jesus, Galileo, Martin Luther, Gandhi – and MLK Jr himself – much needed. The Dream will be alive and kickin’ long after the Glenn Becks of this world are forgotten (however soon, not soon enough). Of course, we also remember the Machiavellis and Goebbels, so I guess Rupert Murdoch and his Faux News are working at staking their claim for posterity, too. A shame, and rather quite frightening, to see how many believe they – Faux News – deserve it.
- Beat
Beat Schindler´s last [type] ..Protected- Guilty Pleasures
September 6th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Very interesting, and as a non-American living in the US I am often bemused by some of the reactions of a vocal minority. You do say “A vocal minority of white people are beginning to realize that whites are not the majority race in America anymore” however the US is still 75% white (2008 Census Bureau Estimate).
That said, I was not around for the fight for equal rights (which was kind of bypassed in the UK) and there is much more historical feeling than current feeling affecting people’s decisions. It’s the first time I have watched the whole speech I think, fascinating
Joel´s last [type] ..Fighting Spam
September 6th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Beat,
I’m hoping the Faux News crowd are a very noisy minority so they won’t end up with real power again. Why they can’t see what they are doing and where it will land them in history is beyond me. They are arrogant, unfeeling, and believe in their superiority and their right to it.
I wonder if any of them will ever have a revelation of reality? If they ever do, I wonder what will happen to them. There is nothing like a zealot converted from his zealotry.
Thanks for reading!
Sherri
September 6th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
Joel,
The country is still mostly white, but in 1960, it was 90% white, and the white population is now dropping like stone off a cliff. Every year the percentage of whites in the U.S. declines. It also depends where you live. If you live in the south, the south west, the east coast or west coast, the populations are much more diverse and racial distribution is skewed much more toward former minorities. In Baton Rouge, the African-American population is about 56% of the whole, and we have rapidly growing Hispanic and Asian populations as well. Whites are a minority here.
What keeps the country from plummeting into a fully diverse population is the very white mid-west and the mid-northern states along the Canadian border. The change toward a minority white population is growing faster (increasing at an increasing rate) and it’s freaking a lot of white people out. I’ll be interested in seeing what the 2010 census says about race. In 10 more years, I’m sure the picture will be much different than it is today.
The civil rights movement was bloody, hate-filled and required the National Guard to start integrating schools after the Brown v Board of Education case. There were peaceful protests, mostly because of Dr. King’s leadership, but there were also many riots and a lot of murders. It was a time of extreme upheaval in America. But it was and is the right thing to do, and should have been done after the Civil War instead of the enactment of “separate but equal”. Had the end of slavery been the start of equal rights, all that suffering could have been reduced, and all the economic harm to the country could have been avoided. With 90 years of institutionalized discrimination, we have effectively put ourselves 90 years behind in our national growth.
I’m glad you watched the entire speech. Most people remember the part where Dr. King says “I have a dream”, but don’t know much of what comes before that part.
My favorite quote from Dr. King is “the arch of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. That’s from his “How Long, Not Long” speech after the march from Selma to Montgomery, AL in 1965. It took three tries to complete the march, the first try being bloody Sunday, where the marchers were beaten to a bloody pulp by police and others along the route. Congressman John Lewis was about 18 years old when he was beaten nearly to death that day in 1965, but he survived, and has continued the work for “The Dream”.
Sherri