Thank You Martin Luther King

Remember that speech about Dr. King’s dream? Thanks to the work of Dr. King and many others, we are a much more racially mixed society. Some think the dream has come true; after all, little black children and little white children play together regularly these days.

At the time of Dr. King’s assassination he was starting to see the fruits of his labor. The country was desegregating and the rights of African Americans were being recognized. Sure, that upset some people, but that is not why he was assassinated. At the time of his death he was just getting started on what was probably going to be the hard part of the dream; the socioeconomic inequality in the US.

It would be great if every year on King’s birthday we could look back and see that we are making continued progress, but this year we must honestly say that we are moving in the wrong direction. The gap between the rich and poor is widening. The federal government is taking the entire country further and further in to debt while big corporations are reporting record profits. As my dad mentions today there is even work being done by republicans to marginalize voting rights.

Martin Luther King Jr was a great leader. In order to keep the dream alive we must not only remember what he did and said, but also remember what he was trying to do when he was murdered.