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Aug 29, 2003 On the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech It would behhove us to take a look at the state of that dream. Have the followers of Dr. King reached his goals and are they pursuing his goals in a way that would please Dr King? Here are some examples of the actions of the Civil Rights Movement of late. You decide if King would be happy: 1) Dr. Kings own family is trying to keep all of his speeches and papers hostage. They are in the process of copywriting most of everything that he said and wrote. I have nothing against trying to make money, but his family actually sued a university in order to get back a bunch of his papers that King himself donated to the University. Can we all say greed? 2) Unfortunately, Jesse Jackson has tried (and failed) to take the mantle of Dr. King. How has he failed? Jackson has made his living out of pointing fingers at corporations and accusing them of racism. These companies then donate millions of dollars to his "Rainbow Push Coalition" and he quitley goes away claiming victory. The truth be told, Jackson is concerned about one thing: Money. Jackson makes his living by stirring up racism not by trying to eliminate it. Remember it was Jackson who called New York City, "Hymie Town." It is Jackson who wrongfully claims that banks are racist in their lending policies. Yet these banks lend money at a higher rate to Asians than they do to Whites. Is this racism? Jackson says that he opposes school vouchers but where did he send his kids? To private school. The list goes on... 3) 70% of all black children are born out of wedlock. Would King be happy with this news? 4) Recently, a Black journalist in Washington D.C. wrote of her home buying adventure. She reported that she wanted to buy a home in a historically black section of D.C. She wrote of her frustration in seeing that whites had bought homes in these black neihborhoods. Her exact words were, "We damn sure aren't going to let white folks buy up all the property in D.C." She added that D.C. was "a chocolate city." What if a White journalist had written a story about buying a house in a white nieghborhood? What if he/she had said that he didn't want to see blacks buying the property? He would be run out of town on a rail! King would be proud wouldn't he? 5) Bell hooks, a black professor, recently wrote a book entitled "A Killing Rage". In it she speaks of a time that she wanted to kill a white person. What led to her need to kill? A lost seat on an airplane. Yep, that's right. It seems that one of Hooks travelling companions did not have a legitimate right to sit in First Class. Unfortunately though, some poor white guy did have his ducks in a row and was allowed to sit in his assigned seat. The problem? Hook's companion had already parked her butt in the seat. The stewardess asked her to move and she did. Hook's response? "I felt a killing rage," She recalled, "I wanted to stab him softly, to shoot him with a gun I wish I had in my purse. And as I watched his pain, I would say tenderly to him 'Racism hurts'" King would be so proud! These are but a few examples of the progress that King's purported followers have made. All in all I would say that they all have a dream as well, unfortunately for most of us it is a nightmare. ------------ About the author: Wesley Mills is a full time student and writing instructor at Empire State College in Rochester N.Y. He also does freelance editing and writing and has his own company, "Writng Resources" which helps writers of all genres to write better and also does "book doctoring" and editing of all types. Email Wesley Mills: wmills1@rochester.rr.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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