I Too Have A Dream….

Of course my dream is a little different than Dr. Kings, and illegal in at least 38 states, but hey, a dream is a dream.

Today we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, a man I greatly admire. I’m afraid that if the good Doctor were alive today he would be disappointed in what we as a people have done with his dream in the nearly 40 years since his untimely death. Oh sure, we have a black man as a viable candidate for the President of the United States as well as a black Secretary of State, the second African-American in a row to hold that position. And when you look back on the world that Dr. King left behind, a world with separate lunch counters, separate water fountains, and segregated schools, it seems like we have come a long way since Martin Luther King, Jr. first espoused his dream.

And yet I can’t help but feel that we have so much further to go, and the people stopping us from getting there aren’t the southern white racists and Klan members, but the white liberals and the “so-called” black leadership in this country.

Lets get this out of the way first: There ARE some white racists out there who really want to “keep the black (Hispanic, gay, etc…) man down”, and there is no room in America for these people. These people are antiquated idiots, and I will not give them a platform for their hate speech. That being said, these people represent a miniscule amount of our population, and yet if we listen to these voices on the left, those group’s views are the same as the vast majority of the right. Folks, it just ain’t so.

And if Dr. King could hear the words of his “successors” – and in reality no one could succeed Dr. King – I think he would be appalled. Compare any speech made by King with a speech – any speech – by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, or Louis Farrakhan, and there is only one conclusion you can come to: There is no comparison. Dr. King spoke of progress, he spoke of opportunity, no matter how slim that light of hope may have been. Sharpton, Jackson, and the others speak of the exact opposite, no matter how slim the notion of racism is.

Consider this: The Washington Post in 1995 wrote about black, white, Hispanic and Asian views on race. Pollsters asked middle-income members of each race whether “past and present discrimination” is responsible for your group’s problems. 84% of blacks answered “Yes”. When middle-income whites were asked whether “past and present discrimination” holds blacks back, only 30% answered yes. Granted, a black person can probably answer this question with more experience than a white person.

But here’s where it gets interesting. When Hispanics were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding them back, 43% said yes. Yet when Blacks were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding Hispanics back, 58% said yes. In other words, 30% more blacks perceived discrimination against Hispanics than did Hispanics themselves. And when Asians were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding them back, 31% said yes. Yet when Blacks were asked if “past and present discrimination” was responsible for holding Asians back, 41% said yes. Again, 30% more blacks perceived discrimination against Asians than did Asians themselves.

So what does this mean? Well, there is room for interpretation, but the way I see it is that for the last 40 years – after we lost Dr. King – Black Leadership has been preaching that every problem facing the black community is due to racism, which means that no one is preaching that blacks themselves have the power to determine the course of their lives. Look, one of my favorite shows, one that I watch each and every day (thank you TiVo) is Cops. And I have seen numerous times where the cops have arrested a black man for whatever – car theft, selling drugs, burglary – and the perp is screaming “racism, racism”, despite the fact that he was caught red handed, sometimes caught by a black cop. Explain that?

As for white liberals, one of the main reasons that we are facing some of the issues we are is due to white liberal condescension. Two of the greatest problems facing the African-American community today are a 70% out-of-wedlock birthrate (with the teenage out-of-wedlock birthrate at nearly 90%), and a 44% high school drop out rate. But when was the last time you heard anyone in a liberal position talk about these issues. Don’t strain yourself, because I doubt that you can come up with one. And yet the fact is that an African-American currently below the poverty level who graduates from high school and refrains from either fathering or mothering a child, has a 94% likelihood that he or she will rise above the poverty level. It’s a no-brainer, and yet liberal “compassion” – which is actually liberal condescension – ignores this problem, a problem if properly addressed and worked on, would all but eliminate the economic gaps between the races.

Of course Dr. Kings greatest speech was the “I Have A Dream” speech, and to me the most powerful line in that speech was “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.” Wow!. And then consider this. The California chapter of the NAACP is condemning the choice of Chinese Sculptor Lei Yixin, who was chosen to sculpt the Martin Luther King monument on the Mall in Washington D.C., saying an African American artist should have been commissioned as the lead artist. So apparently that not judging “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” only counts with certain colors of skin. Shame on you NAACP! Imagine if a black artist had been chosen to create a monument to Ronald Reagan, and there were protests that only a white artist should create the monument. Imagine the outrage, and outrage there should be. But again, we’re talking about liberal condescension here, so yeah, it makes sense.

And what about the outrage that Oprah is experiencing? Alright, I know this doesn’t really fit todays topic, or maybe it does. Consider this from the Times Online: AMERICA’S favorite television presenter is paying a painful price for her intervention in the US presidential campaign last month. Oprah Winfrey has been dubbed a “traitor” by some of her female fans for supporting Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton. Winfrey’s website, Oprah.com, has been flooded with a barrage of abuse since the queen of daytime chat shows joined Obama on a tour of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in mid-December."

So if Oprah supports Obama she’s “abandoning” her gender, if she supports Hillary she’s abandoning her race. You know, I remember the good old days when we choose our candidate based on WHO they were, not WHAT they were.