The Dream
Martin Luther King, we need you.
I pulled my last two pieces.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been really sick and feeling rather lowly, (like my arse was handed to me), judging myself way too harshly or if it’s because I haven’t started off the new year with writing something that really mattered overall.
Admittedly, I entered 2024 a little depressed. We are all wrestling with something or someone and many of us are annoyed by public servants (because most are not).
But to be honest, the dream, the soul of America is the most important thing to me right now. It really matters. I am concerned about the state of humanity. I am concerned that the foundation laid for the greatest civil rights movement of all time is dying, if not dead.
I am deeply concerned about how we treat our most vulnerable, innocent and helpless. Especially women, children and animals. How we are treating victims of crimes.
The practice of Antisemitism goes completely against the dream. It goes against the entire scope of civil human rights and those who marched alongside of Martin Luther King. This doesn’t need to be explained.
As January 15th is upon us, I wonder what Reverend King would think of America today.
There is so much in the news, but what caught my eye this week, was a city council meeting in San Francisco. A “cease fire protest.” A Jewish gentlemen, resident of San Francisco, tried to speak calmly about three of his family members massacred on October 7th and two family members taken hostage. He was shouted down, jeered, and they made hand motions resembling horns on their heads. Speaking about what Hamas did, a councilman was called a liar.
Yesterday, they would have been called radicals. Standouts. Today, they are “normal” people we interact with on social media, at work, in school and who’s kids play together on the playground.
Is this the fulfillment of MLK’s dream?
As America takes January 15th off to remember him, here is a short summary about Martin Luther King Jr:
“The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is a civil rights legend. In the mid-1950s, King led the movement to end segregation and counter prejudice in the United States through the means of peaceful protest. His speeches—some of the most iconic of the 20th century - had a profound effect on the national consciousness.
Mr. King’s dream for America was that one day the country will “live out the true meaning of its creed” and make it a reality that “all men are created equal.” He dreams that his children will one day live in a society where they will be judged not “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Perhaps we can take a step back and look at the man with a dream. A man many are honoring and many are forgetting simultaneously.
The Reverend King brought the King into the greatest fight for the foundation of civil rights America has ever seen.
We sure could use you both now…
Take a listen to Clarence Jones.. or a read.
“If the surviving lions don’t tell their stories, the hunters will take all the credit.” - African saying - (from the article above)