The king spoke and people dashed around the world hurriedly to hear the speech, the oratory whose contents reflected the axis on which the social world turned. They came to hear the king deliver and declare the king’s dream. The speech, which of course comes immediately to mind, the speech that is most often gripped and retracted from the passages of time is the monumental “I Have a Dream.” Now, the dream and the dreamer will be eternalized in a tangible and eternal monument in time.
On Aug. 28, millions more will flock from around the world to bear witness to the speaker and the speech that epitomizes the journey and the movement that would not be deterred for a dream that would not be deferred. To gain access to economic equality, and strive for a more equitable social station, these were his thoughts and dreams for a nation. To be able to make sustainable progress each and every day, to be able to walk and carry one’s self in a particular way, to be able to declare that we are not a fraction of a man or a woman, we were, in fact, true men.
The king delivered the speech that day, and the king paved the future, willing with blood to pay. The king
who lifted up and spoke so that we could hear his voice, the king gave his life so that we might have a choice. Choices in education and social interactions, choices that ultimately lead us to affirmative action. He asked us to choose courageously so that it would mean something to day, he requires us to live our lives in a more noble and upstanding way. These are things we didn’t have you see, which is why he had to die — to make it possible for you and me.
The king represented the hungry, disenfranchised and the downtrodden, too. He opposed the Vietnam War and all it had taken us through. He helped us to understand that protesting was what were compelled to do, and a course of nonviolence was what we should pursue. It was all such a grand and wondrous plan, what is it we don’t understand about this extraordinary man? Some took him for granted and dismissed what he said, some denied him and buried their heads instead.
What does the dream mean, then and today? Why did he have so much to say? He had to express, what we as African Americans should be doing today. And we have to address the problems and issues he put on national display. Had there been social networking platforms back in his day, he would have used them to expose and defeat the cultural decay. He would have live streamed social consciousness, and made corporate America understand diversity makes sense.
He elected not to play the game, he elected not to trade the dream, for fortune and fame. He had a greater purpose than just making a name. But a bullet felled the warrior and brought the nation to shame. But he left a treasure-trove of information to direct us on our way. Now a monument will stand in Washington, and what will that convey? It will reveal to the world why he chose to die for a cause. For if he had kept silent and not spoken out against the immorality of racism, justice would not have been dispensed. So the monument will be seen in the sky, and the monument will tell the world, why he chose to die.
Now we are required to be the dream keepers today. We have to keep prejudice and inequality at bay. Fight redlining in your community and fight discrimination with impunity. We’re not invited to participate in so many things in a meaningful way. We are still denied the economic platforms that can help us get ahead, but we are ever-mindful about where we tread. For loans and lending they won’t let you in the door, but they are glad to take your money when you walk in the store. They don’t invest in our community like they do in the rest. But we are grateful for the crumbs and too often we bow. We must be like King and start a movement right now.
So I found my self on a plane, with Martin Luther King III. And not only does he share his father’s name, he eloquently shared with me the same — that the King’s dream must be kept alive for us to arrive. He said some would change the holiday if they could, and that, in fact, others would argue that they should. The tragedy is that we might let it pass, without protesting en masse, because apathy and complacency are the order of the day.
So while we continue to look to one man and listen for one voice, use your keyboard as a sounding board and your cellphone to let it be known where you stand. Use the means at your disposal to express disapproval, about boardroom exclusion and making justice an illusion.
For those who do understand, you know we are required to be stronger and better black women and men.
Peace.
–munson steed
