Is Obama's Inauguration MLK's Dream?

Yes and No

This Monday, we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. The following Tuesday
we will inaugurate Barack Obama as our first African American President. Does this
mean that King's grand dream of tolerance in the US and progress for African Americans
has been achieved? In some ways no and in some ways yes.

45 years ago, in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, Martin Luther King talked about a
check given to African Americans by the founders of this country that had bounced, a
check that said, "All men were created equal." That was a promissory note to black
people that one day we would have our rights, a check that came back marked
"insufficient funds." 45 years later has the check cleared?

Today many people would say the same thing that MLK said in '63, that, "The negro
lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity." In
King's time the average black family income was 56% of the average white family
income, today it is 63%. Today African Americans still suffer the sting of poverty, the
gap has only been closed by 7% in the past 5 years. In terms of financial equality, we
have a long way to go before we realize King's dream. King would go on about economic
prosperity saying:

"We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to
a larger one."

While there are many prosperous black suburbs and many African Americans have
managed to move into white and racially mixed suburbs, the overwhelming majority of
blacks have to deal with the same prospects of upward mobility that King spoke about in
'63.

King also spoke about the Negro languishing in the corners of society, an exile in their
own land. Given the large amount of African Americans who still live in poverty in the
worst part of American cities -- a reality that was made all the more clear during
hurricane Katrina -- in some ways many African Americans are still exiles in their own
land.

King spoke out against a issue that is still a serious problem:

"We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of police brutality."

So there is no way on earth he'd be satisfied today, with Rodney King, Sean Bell,
Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, and many others being brutality beaten or killed by the
police.
Still several parts of King's dream have become a reality. No longer are we robbed of our
dignity by "White Only" signs and when we are tired with the "fatigue of travel" we can
stay at any of the hotels and motels across the highways of America.

Barack Obama has personified King's dream in the political sphere. King famously said:

"We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in
New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we
will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty
stream."

Judging by the high African American voter turnout in the South and in cities like New
York, this part of King's dream is a shining reality. In this way, Obama has taken King's
mantel and inspired blacks to achieve one part, a very significant part of America's
dream.

King spoke of "sons of slaves and the sons of slave owners meeting at the table of
brotherhood." This is another testament to Obama's victory. The results in many southern
states have showed that blacks and whites have joined at the table of brotherhood in their
support of Obama. In other avenues such as sports and entertainment, African Americans
have been at the table with their white brothers. The blacks lucky enough to go to college
or get jobs in corporate America or join the entertainment industry have joined the table
of brotherhood, while the poor in the ghettoes are treated like abandoned step-children.

Conservatives have taken King's statement about his children living "in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" to
attack affirmative action.

What they fail to recognize is that day has not come because of the legacy of racism and
its continued presence, and affirmative action is the only chance many blacks have at
"sitting at the table of brotherhood." As racial profiling and racial discrimination in
general are both still a harsh reality, we are still judged by the color of our skin. While
millions of white people voted for Barack Obama because of the content of his character,
millions did not because of the color of his skin.

Barack Obama has learned a lot from King's speech. King put his dream in the context of
the broader American dream, referencing the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and
"America the Beautiful." Just as King used the abolition of slavery as a reference point,
Obama used King's speech and the Civil Rights Movement as a reference point. 1963 was
not an end but a new beginning for the Civil Rights Movement, and so is '08.

As King incorporated white people into his general movement, Obama has done it doubly
so. King said:

"Many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to
realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that
their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone."

Obama's honest direct approach to attracting working class white voters and including
them in his movement is a testament to King's dream. The sons and daughters of the
white people who marched with King and even the sons and daughters of those who
protested against him have joined the Obama movement and mantel of change.

If Obama is to take his place as the heir to the civil rights movement, he must make it
clear that the movement is not a black movement but a movement for all people seeking
peace and justice.

I am a strong believer of not being cynical and chasing dreams. While we have not
achieved King's dream yet, Obama and the people that have supported him have put us
on the right course to do so. We must continue to fight to make sure that King's dream is
realized. Just like King looked over the mountaintop and saw that he "might not get here
with us," we must fight with the same vision. This is a multi-generational struggle; we
may never live in a tolerant, peaceful utopia. Every time someone fights for that vision,
we make the world a better place.

Although racism will remain a reality for our lifetime we can fight for progress and
equality. Because of Obama, 66% of black parents believe that their children can be
President, and while most of them never will, that dream will keep them going, make
them keep fighting and make them believe in themselves.

The Dream is a continuing vision. It is not just a dream for black people but for all people
who want to live in a society with peace, justice and equality. A dream that was started
by Chrispus Attucks, a dream set in stone in the US Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence, a dream that many before King, like WEB DuBois, John Brown, Abraham
Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington and Langston Hughes fought for
before him and one that many others fought after his death. Obama not only is keeping
that dream alive but he is inspiring millions more to do the same.

When I watched all the racist McCain hate rally footage, I knew that that wasn't white
America but a loud disgruntled minority who had their hatred directed at Obama by
Republican strategists and pundits. The majority of Americans, white people old and
young, latinos and African Americans, have rallied around Obama like the nation rallied
against racism and bigotry under King. Bigotry and racism are not over but they are on
the decline. I felt a strong burst of pride when I saw white schoolchildren holding bake
sales for Obama and when I saw old white ladies with Obama buttons.

A torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- not a black generation or a
white generation but a diverse new generation that represents what America really is.