Isn’t it time for a post-racially divided U.S.?
As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, many are speaking to the great strides in those 50 years toward economic equality. They talk as if that financial gain was at the heart of King's vision for the future between the races. I believe that it was only one of his goals and not the most important to him (“Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy lives on in the work of young Baltimore activists,” April 4).
King dreamed of a future where people of every race could stand together to support common goals. Where people of any race could look up to honest people of any race and learn what it means to be an American from them.
From what I have experienced in my last 50 years, we are far, far away from that dream. I have experienced both blacks and whites who could only see someone they trusted or could learn from that person if he or she was of the same race or even of the same shade of color of skin. King worked for a time when we would not judge people by the color of their skin at all or in any way.
I have experienced whites and blacks who automatically look upon anyone of the opposite color as a racist. King knew support from people of all faiths and races who marched side by side with him. I believe that he would be very disappointed by the jump to judgment along race lines. I believe that he would see blackonly groups as much a harm to race relations as white-only groups. I believe that King would wonder if people were listening to the words of his dream at all.
On this anniversary of King's giving of his life for his dream and his words, we need to rethink our government's approach to social redesigning. Color and race should play no part in it at all. We should be striving to raise up people of all races. We need to realize that there are no pure genetic races anymore. We are all some black, some white, some brown, some red, but we are all Americans working for the health, happiness and freedom of everyone. If not, not only is King's dream dead, but America is also.