Every year, on the third Monday of January, the United States celebrates Martin Luther King Day and reflects on what still needs to be done for racial equality.
On this January 15, if Dr. King were alive to celebrate his 95th birthday, what would he have to say about the controversial racial landscape of his nation?
Black Americans still face many real inequalities. But undoubtedly, the USA is a very different place from the nation that saw King gunned down by an assassin’s bullet in 1968, at the age of 39.
The country has seen a Black American serve two terms as president and a Black vice president about to complete a term – something King might have thought even his children would not witness.
There are Black individuals routinely serving at the highest levels in the presidential cabinet, on the Supreme Court, in the Senate, in the House, and as state governors.
Such changes would certainly delight Dr. King. Changes that happened thanks to the movement of which King was the leading figure.
Born in the churches of the South, the civil rights movement challenged white America to purge itself of racism. Achieved through moral power, non-violence, an appeal to faith, an appeal to civil disobedience of unjust laws, and an appeal to full equality.
King achieved his goals, not through coercion, but through persuasion – and by demonstrating the frequent barbarism of those who sought to maintain injustice.
But he would likely also be dismayed, not only by the injustices that remain. He would be hurt by the fact that, although young Black Americans are no longer barred from attending schools, they are often denied a quality education – and thus drop out without the knowledge and skills necessary to become fully productive members of society.
He would also be troubled by the hypersensitivity and the growing ‘politically correct’ nature of current discussions about race, the near impossibility of honest dialogue, and the insistence of many to label as racists anyone who disagrees with them.
And he would undoubtedly be disappointed that the country has still not fully realized his dream of a world where people will be judged solely “by the content of their character” and “not by the color of their skin.”
Source: Read more at https://nypost.com/2024/01/14/opinion/martin-luther-king-jr-the-best-of-america/