2008 Woodie Awards
Is Dr. King's Dream Dead?
Kandis M. Catalan
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: Opinion
" Like anybody, I would like to live a long life-longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will and He's allowed me to go the mountaintop. And I've looked over and I've seen the Promise Land"
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"I've Been to the Mountaintop"
April 3, 1968
These were some of the last words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s " I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech delivered April 3, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King traveled to Memphis to lead a march of sanitation workers who were protesting against poor work conditions and low wages, where many were working forty hours a week but were still not eligible for government aid. This was the last time Dr. King would grace any crowd, of any race, with his eloquent and optimistic words.
On April 4, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated; shot in the neck while standing on the balcony of Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Soon after shooting King was pronounced dead while in hospital. It is now 2008, 40 years after Dr. King's death, but is this also the anniversary of the death of his dream? Dr. King dreamed of equality for all; a colorblind America. So again I ask is his dream dead?
The same city where King lost his life now has an African American mayor, while in 1968 Tennessee's city hall barely recognized blacks as human beings.
In 1968, people of color were not allowed in Congress, while in 2008 African American woman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, a Democrat from Ohio is the chair of the Senate Ethics Committee and African American Barack Obama is holding the majority of the Democratic vote in this year's Presidential Election. So is the Dream Dead?
Of course there is still much work needed, but as a young adult it becomes discouraging to always here the negative as opposed to highlighting and leaning on the positive. We all know that African American men occupy the majority of prison cells and that hate crimes and injustices still place like Jena Six. But it is time to live and find strength in the positive that surrounds us to ensure that we reach the Promised Land and indeed overcome!
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"I've Been to the Mountaintop"
April 3, 1968
These were some of the last words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s " I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech delivered April 3, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King traveled to Memphis to lead a march of sanitation workers who were protesting against poor work conditions and low wages, where many were working forty hours a week but were still not eligible for government aid. This was the last time Dr. King would grace any crowd, of any race, with his eloquent and optimistic words.
On April 4, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated; shot in the neck while standing on the balcony of Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Soon after shooting King was pronounced dead while in hospital. It is now 2008, 40 years after Dr. King's death, but is this also the anniversary of the death of his dream? Dr. King dreamed of equality for all; a colorblind America. So again I ask is his dream dead?
The same city where King lost his life now has an African American mayor, while in 1968 Tennessee's city hall barely recognized blacks as human beings.
In 1968, people of color were not allowed in Congress, while in 2008 African American woman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, a Democrat from Ohio is the chair of the Senate Ethics Committee and African American Barack Obama is holding the majority of the Democratic vote in this year's Presidential Election. So is the Dream Dead?
Of course there is still much work needed, but as a young adult it becomes discouraging to always here the negative as opposed to highlighting and leaning on the positive. We all know that African American men occupy the majority of prison cells and that hate crimes and injustices still place like Jena Six. But it is time to live and find strength in the positive that surrounds us to ensure that we reach the Promised Land and indeed overcome!
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