The Kings Dream-Dongha

To the Reader:

I had every intention of writing a piece based on a part of the Martin Luther King "I Have a Dream" speech, as commentary on Black History Month. I've tried several times, but each time I found that something was holding me back. The flow of words would abruptly dry up, and I'd find myself in a funk, a writer's block, with no idea how to escape.

Something rang with the cacophonous sound of a broken bell.

I wrote several different starts, but each ended up set aside. The dissonance was there, beneath the surface, but the reason for it continued to elude me, and left me wondering if I could ever get anywhere. After all, it seemed such an easy thing. On one hand was Black History Month, a time when African-Americans talked about the accomplishments of black soldiers, scientists, inventors, etc, and on the other was Dr. King, the man who fought for equal rights and treatment for blacks.

After much thought, it finally came to me. Dr. King's dream was dead. He said, in part, "I have a dream that someday my children will be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character". Sadly, his dream was in large part killed by the black liberal activists who profess to believe in it. The white liberals worked with them, to make sure the King's dream would never come to fruition.

Moreover, one method of killing that dream, while deliberate or not, was Black History Month. There is a dissonance between the two; a dissonance that came to me as I contemplated what it was that prevented me from writing about the two in combination. Black History Month is dedicated to black history and black accomplishment. I wish to denigrate neither; but the fact is they are a part of, and not the whole, of the history of my country. One cannot discuss the history of the United States without pointing out what was accomplished by diverse races and nationalities. Yet the Chinese, whom we all but enslaved to build our railroads, the Japanese, whom we put into prison camps during the Second World War, the Irish, many of whom came to this country as indentured servants, the Sicilians and Italians, the French, the Welsh, the Scots, all have something in common. They do not have a month dedicated to them, a month set aside to recognize their accomplishments in relation to this country.

How does this relate to King's words? Think about it. "Not by the color of their skin…" was what he said, but Black History Month focuses entirely upon a group of citizens of this country chosen first for their skin color, and then by their accomplishments. The color of their skin should not be an issue, but it is.

Black History Month stands as a living symbol of the divisiveness that still pervades this country. It continues to glorify and enshrine separateness, instead of recognizing this country achieved its greatness when people put aside differences and worked together, as a team, as a family, as a group dedicated to the knowledge and awareness that the whole IS greater than the sum of its parts, and that no one part should be raised above another.

Martin, we failed. We failed your dream, because we failed to recognize that, as long as we practice the concept that one's contribution must be measured separately from another's based on race, or religion, or national origin, we can never reach the day when children and adults will be measured by the content of their character, rather than by the color of their skin.

Martin, your people have exchanged one set of chains for another. They are enslaved to a political set of beliefs that tells them of entitlement. They are enslaved to a welfare system that teaches them to expect something for nothing. And they are enslaved to politicians that ask for their vote in return for forging larger, heavier chains. Chains of dependency. No Martin, they're not "Free at last", they're still in chains.

Your dream is dead, Martin. There appears to be no chance to resurrect it.

NOTE: Copyright 02/15/04 by Dave Hoffman

Use granted to all who identify author.

Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere.