Dr King's "I Have a Dream"

I have been thinking a lot about Martin Luther King Jr. as well as John and Robert Kennedy. For that matter Abraham Lincoln is a huge portion of the picture.One of my favorite songs in my teen years was Abraham Martin and John. My favorite version of the song to this day, is by Marvin Gaye.



From our countries beginning the constitution was set up that all men are equal. Yet, from the beginning of our independence the blacks were never free. It has always been impossible for me to imagine that one person might consider another as less than human, but that is exactly what many slave owners assumed. Maybe it was how they rationalized slavery, or maybe they actually believed it?! Native Americans as well as the Chinese and any other race that wasn't European white has gone through this same examination. However, the blacks have had much more to contend with because of their slavery roots, and being one of the central issues for the American Civil War. One of my favorite songs in my teen years was Abraham Martin and John.


In the beginning slavers went to Africa and picked up blacks as if they were cattle. They transported them under inhumane Nazi conditions to "The New World" to be sold on auction blocks to the highest bidder. We can look back in history to understand that this practice was not new. It was well entrenched, especially in the South before the very first constitutional convention took place, and was one of the issues considered when creating that great document. How is it possible that it took women so long to get the right to vote and blacks so long for any freedom to come their way when our own Declaration of Independence reads; "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."? When Dr. King in his "I Have a Dream" speech said that he the US needed to make good on a bad check given to his people, I'm sure referred to this part of our declaration and then to the Emancipation Proclamation as well as the 13th amendment.


Found on Footnote.com




Today, we can look around our country and see concrete evidence that the notion of the slavers and the slave owners, as well as those prejudiced racists which reside in the borders of our country were wrong. Black people are among the most intelligent scholars in the nation. They are doctors, lawyers,politicians, police commissioners, teachers, and they shine in every other profession you can think of. They are some of the most gifted athletes, artists and musicians in our country. We have black Nobel Prize winners, along with scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and now even our President.

Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream. I group John and Bobby Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln with him because they all shared in this profound dream of equality, and in their deaths they all sealed this same dream with their blood.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

According to what we have written and what we profess to believe as American Citizens, it should have always been this way and most certainly should be today. Whatever we need to do to root out the evil of racism and inequality in our great country, we need to be the generation that makes sure it happens. Shame on you if you don't!