I Have a Dream
“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.” –Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963
Yesterday was an exciting day for a wonderful country. For the world really. But we are still waiting for the fulfillment of Dr. King’s vision.
As any person who grew up outside the United States could tell you, the place is still a country obsessed with race. Advances have been made. In practice, equality has been largely achieved. However, in the minds of people, racism lives on. Even people who are not hateful about it are subject to its perspective. Even minorities who are the natural target of it are slaves to it. And there are far too many people who embrace it.
(As a youth minister, a sure fire way to get in trouble with parents was to get onto a teen for racist views. There is no doubt as to where those views originated.)
And then yesterday, we showed we have not moved on to judging people by their character and not their race. Rev. Joseph Lowery delivered the benediction at the end of the service. It was beautiful. It was poetic. The delivery was spoken so much better than the poem that preceded it.
The end, however, probably caused a few double takes:
“help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right.”
Guess it is still too early to hope for a country free of racial generalizations.
Yesterday was an exciting day for a wonderful country. For the world really. But we are still waiting for the fulfillment of Dr. King’s vision.
As any person who grew up outside the United States could tell you, the place is still a country obsessed with race. Advances have been made. In practice, equality has been largely achieved. However, in the minds of people, racism lives on. Even people who are not hateful about it are subject to its perspective. Even minorities who are the natural target of it are slaves to it. And there are far too many people who embrace it.
(As a youth minister, a sure fire way to get in trouble with parents was to get onto a teen for racist views. There is no doubt as to where those views originated.)
And then yesterday, we showed we have not moved on to judging people by their character and not their race. Rev. Joseph Lowery delivered the benediction at the end of the service. It was beautiful. It was poetic. The delivery was spoken so much better than the poem that preceded it.
The end, however, probably caused a few double takes:
“help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right.”
Guess it is still too early to hope for a country free of racial generalizations.
Yeah, I did a double take on that one too...I'm waiting for the public outrage... Still waiting... Still waiting...
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