On this Inauguration Eve (which I don’t remember in 2001 when W took office), I have all day been thinking so much of both Barack Obama and Martin Luther King. It could have something to do with the non-stop party going on in our nation’s capital and the ubiquitous media coverage that has been zooming in on January 20th since Election Day. I am hosting my own dreadfully early Inaugural Party of sorts complete with French toast casserole, sausage and coffee. Be it another era, there might have been mimosas but even in the land of unemployment, drinking at 8AM on a week day seems dysfunction and very fattening. Also, the humble group attending my party will be working from “home”/my house tomorrow.
Tonight Larry King asked Martin Luther King III, among others, the question, which has been and will continue to be asked in the waning moments before the Inauguration and I’d love to hear what others think, if he thought Barack Obama’s presidency is the fulfillment or realization of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream? He said an aspect of the dream but there was still much to overcome. Citing the continued prevalence of what his father called the triple evils of racism, poverty and militarism all of which are still at epidemic levels in our society.
I tend to agree, the poverty line, in our country is still in many ways tragically black and white. Worse yet, a black boy born in 2001 has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime; a Latino boy a 1 in 6 chance; and a white boy a 1 in 17 chance (From Children’s Defense Fund 2007 study, American Prison to Pipeline Crisis). Certainly these two things – poverty and crime – are very connected to educational and might be worse for those of us living in LA County than anywhere else in the US.
Quickly, a quote of a radical Christian thinker I admire very much which I think are applicable for all people regardless of their faith and at the heart of the aspects of MLK’s dream still unmet :
“I believe that the great tragedy of the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor, but that they do not know the poor.” – Shane Claiborne, “Downward Mobility in an Upscale World” http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/newmonastics/claiborne_downwardmobility.shtml
The hard work starts Wednesday, right?
2 comments:
I think MLK's dream was much bigger than Obama becoming President. However, for Barack to be our first bi-racial President is very significant. Finally! It makes sense he should be the main representative of our country. The USA is a multi-ethnic, bi/multi-racial nation.
Let's just pray for the near impossible dream - that our celebration & support of him will become greater after Day One. Or, at least he could be the political Tiger Woods who is also bi-racial, Thai & African!
JH, you would have to tease with food here which is making me salivate for breakfast! If it's really good, start your own We Deliver service.
Sorry, wait. Then, you'd have to change the theme of your website. Oh, well...
I had a roommate in college who grew up wealthy. Her economics professor mathematically proved to her class that poverty did not exist in the United States. She bought it.
I urged her to take a drive through a poor neighbor hood on the south side of her home town of Chicago, or some places in the south I'd seen where people lived in shacks. She didn't believe me.
I think her professor should have been fired. Either that, or she should have gotten an F for misunderstanding him completely!
Post a Comment