Yesterday was MLK's birthday.
I first became interested in him, when I was young and my father, commenting on MLK's speech from the Lincoln memorial, said that in his opinion large parts of that speech were divinely inspired.
What I learned over time was that he was a flawed man who practiced what he preached, even to the point of risking life or limb.
He is one of my greatest heroes.
I believe that if MLK were to come back today he would stunned and thriledl at how far America has come in the one generation since he passed. I feel he would also be aghast at what has happened within the black community.
First, a number of things that have come to pass in just one generation that would thrill him.
- A Black President of the United States. A person that was alive on the day Martin Luther King died.
- Black Senators
- Black Congressmen
- Black Supreme Court Justices
- Black Secretaries of State, including a Black woman
- Black Attorney General of the United States
- Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
- Black NASA astronauts
- Black Ambassadors to foreign nations
- Black Ambassadors to the United Nations
- Black judges at every level from county to state to district to federal to Supreme Court
- Black mayors of major cities such as Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington D.C.
- Black police chiefs and fire chiefs in major cities
- Black CEOs of major corporations such as American Express, Aetna, Pepsi, and Xerox.
- Black movie stars making 10-20 million dollars a picture
- Black TV actors with their own sit coms
- Black TV commentators in front of the camera on major network and cable news stations
- Black singers dominating the recording charts
- Black athletes that are dominant in professional baseball, basketball, and football
- Black lawyers in major law firms
- Black architects
- Black school principals
- Black professors at prestigious colleges, including Ivy League colleges
- Black owners of TV stations
etc,
etc.
etc.
All this accomplished in less than one generation since his death, much of it due to the groundwork he laid.
The laws he helped change and the inspiration he provided cannot be understated.
All this in less than one generation away from seperate entrances, seperate bathrooms, legalized voter intimidation, etc. etc. etc.
By any standards these achievements are incredible.
Especially when you consider the racism and oppression, both overt and covert that they had to overcome to achieve these accomplishments.
That is why I think he would also be aghast:
He would be appalled at the fact that 70% of all Black children are born out of wedlock.
As a minister he would be disgusted and discouraged at the behavior that leads to this.
He would remember Collen Powell, born in Harlem in 1937 to Jamaican immigrants who went from overt racism through the early years of his military career to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of State of the United States.
He is but one story of those who chose not to use the roadblocks as an excuse but rather as a motivator.
With millions of examples of people who chose not to let REAL racism and actual overt threats prevent them from achieving incredible things, I think he would be disturbed that people today - facing nowhere near the threats and closed doors based on their skin color - many are claiming that racism is as bad as it was in his day.
.
I first became interested in him, when I was young and my father, commenting on MLK's speech from the Lincoln memorial, said that in his opinion large parts of that speech were divinely inspired.
What I learned over time was that he was a flawed man who practiced what he preached, even to the point of risking life or limb.
He is one of my greatest heroes.
I believe that if MLK were to come back today he would stunned and thriledl at how far America has come in the one generation since he passed. I feel he would also be aghast at what has happened within the black community.
First, a number of things that have come to pass in just one generation that would thrill him.
- A Black President of the United States. A person that was alive on the day Martin Luther King died.
- Black Senators
- Black Congressmen
- Black Supreme Court Justices
- Black Secretaries of State, including a Black woman
- Black Attorney General of the United States
- Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
- Black NASA astronauts
- Black Ambassadors to foreign nations
- Black Ambassadors to the United Nations
- Black judges at every level from county to state to district to federal to Supreme Court
- Black mayors of major cities such as Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington D.C.
- Black police chiefs and fire chiefs in major cities
- Black CEOs of major corporations such as American Express, Aetna, Pepsi, and Xerox.
- Black movie stars making 10-20 million dollars a picture
- Black TV actors with their own sit coms
- Black TV commentators in front of the camera on major network and cable news stations
- Black singers dominating the recording charts
- Black athletes that are dominant in professional baseball, basketball, and football
- Black lawyers in major law firms
- Black architects
- Black school principals
- Black professors at prestigious colleges, including Ivy League colleges
- Black owners of TV stations
etc,
etc.
etc.
All this accomplished in less than one generation since his death, much of it due to the groundwork he laid.
The laws he helped change and the inspiration he provided cannot be understated.
All this in less than one generation away from seperate entrances, seperate bathrooms, legalized voter intimidation, etc. etc. etc.
By any standards these achievements are incredible.
Especially when you consider the racism and oppression, both overt and covert that they had to overcome to achieve these accomplishments.
That is why I think he would also be aghast:
He would be appalled at the fact that 70% of all Black children are born out of wedlock.
As a minister he would be disgusted and discouraged at the behavior that leads to this.
He would remember Collen Powell, born in Harlem in 1937 to Jamaican immigrants who went from overt racism through the early years of his military career to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of State of the United States.
He is but one story of those who chose not to use the roadblocks as an excuse but rather as a motivator.
With millions of examples of people who chose not to let REAL racism and actual overt threats prevent them from achieving incredible things, I think he would be disturbed that people today - facing nowhere near the threats and closed doors based on their skin color - many are claiming that racism is as bad as it was in his day.
.
