Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream has only been partially fulfilled. He had a dream where whites and blacks would lock arms in pursuing the American dream, short of a utopia. MLK had a dream of an America where no one is judged by the color of their skin – a dream where racial injustice would not only turn to racial equality but racial brotherhood.
In his words, “I have a dream that one day the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” As he continued in the speech, he declared, “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”
The March on Washington changed America. The “I Have a Dream” speech resonated with many Americans and has become the most quoted civil rights speech. Yet, the United States of America is far from surmounting all the mountains of racism to fulfill MLK’s dreams.
Now is the time to arise and take up the baton. Many good white people realized that the March on Washington was not just a “Negro” thing. Will white people today recognize that the recent outcry for racial justice is not a black thing? Is there anyone out there who will still hear the distressing cry of the racially marginalized?
When blacks called out to whites in 1963, almost 100,000 responded and joined the march. Blacks are calling out again, especially now that CRT and BLM have hijacked the civil rights movement. This is not the time to plead the fifth, nor is it the time to feign ignorance of the presence of racism in various aspects of American life. Instead, it is time to take action and confront every shade of racism in American culture. If you do not see racism, you will see racial prejudice if you look hard enough.
Many whites do not know much of Black History beyond grade school lessons and what the media portrays. It is saddening that we hardly hear about the contributions of blacks in the civilization, development and prosperity of the United States of America. It is appalling to note that many Americans think that the whole of Africa is an obscure uncivilized country where monkeys run around unrestricted, and kids are generally malnourished with protruding stomachs. Most notably, many Alaskan residents do not know about 150 years of Black History in Alaska.
You may not be called to march on Washington, but you can do something about racial injustice by supporting those who are at the frontlines through giving to conservative racial justice groups. You could also volunteer or attend events to boost their cause. For the spiritual, remember that social justice is imperative. The Bible declares in Isaiah 58:6 that one of the signs of true worship is, “To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free and that you break every yoke.” It is not enough to acknowledge the truth without acting on it. Faith without works is dead.
It is not enough to have a few black friends without the knowledge of the black experience. It is not enough to study Black History in America without considering the generational consequences of slavery, Social Darwinism, Jim Crow laws, eugenics, police brutality, the KKK, white supremacy, racial profiling and the economic deprivation of Black America. The consequences of this tragic history continue to plague black America, yet the silence of conservatives, the church, and white America on issues of racial injustice is more deafening.
Disclaimer:
To reject the CRT ideology or BLM, is not to deny that racism exists. I do not deny the evil that African Americans have experienced or currently experience in the USA. I have personally experienced racism as a Black man. However, there are better solutions than the methods used by CRT and BLM. There are methods that truly reflect MLK’s legacy, methods that do not only ensure social equality but promote intellectual, economic, and cultural empowerment of African Americans and all minorities. The RACS Bridge the Gap (BTG) Initiative is one of those alternatives. Click here for details.
6 Comments
Everyone has the same opportunity to fail or succeed in this country. Nobody is being systematically held back because of race. This is just another form of the same junk speeches and racial equality ideas we always hear.
Hello Leigh,
If you read my other articles on this subject matter, you will notice that I agree that everyone has the same opportunity to fail or succeed in this country as at today. But it was not so 40-50 years ago. As at today systemic racism which was once in place during slavery and Jim Crow eras have been dismantled yet the lingering consequences are obvious.
I am not rendering any junk speech or sound bite. Rather, I am touching a hot button that has been buried alive by conservatives. My call to action is centered on the fact that we may have outlawed racism, but we have not addressed its consequences adequately, neither have we completed the journey to equality. My statement above is worth reiterating here, “It is not enough to study Black History in America without considering the generational consequences of slavery, Social Darwinism, Jim Crow laws, eugenics, police brutality, the KKK, white supremacy, racial profiling and the economic deprivation of Black America. The consequences of this tragic history continue to plague Black America…” Even among whites, many are struggling with their childhood racial upbringing. They are not racists, and they know racism is wrong, but they struggle with prejudice due to living through Jim Crow laws. Leigh, there needs to be more proactive approach towards healing, reconciliation and equality through dialogue and true brotherhood not just opportunities.
So exactly how much would you say you’re owed from White America, Prince?
Or are you just expecting White folks to hang their heads in collective shame for acts they’d never taken?
Might you be content if you and your kids go the front of every line?
Spell it out, Prince. Just what do you think you’re owed?
Sally,
You got the wrong person. I am not an advocate of CRT and BLM. I am opposed to those type of black activists. I don’t even consider myself a black activist. I am just a conservative Christian thinker. I do not think White America owes anyone anything. Yet it will be callous of anyone white or black to deny the lingering consequences of the evils of the past by some whites against blacks. Christian compassion compels us to empathize with those who are still suffering from the trauma of Jim Crow laws, segregation, KKK lynching, and prejudice. Even if all those things have stopped, there are people alive today that are living with the pain. The parable of the good Samaritan points us to a compassionate response irrespective of who caused the pain. I hope you understand my passion.
No. I will not join nor support your cause as you’ve described it.
CRT, the SGW’s, the Woke, antifa, blm, are not fighting for ‘racial justice’, they are fighting for injustice, they fight for racism and evil, not against it. They are useful idiots who will be among the first to suffer and die at the hands of their puppeteers, when their puppeteers are finished with them.
You are not oppressed. There is no ‘systemic racism’ in this nation.
But, perhaps I’m wrong. Tell me who, exactly, is oppressing you and I will join you in opposing them. Show me an example of ‘systemic racism’ and I will happily go to bat with you and correct it. But you have to be specific. If you can’t identify your target then you have nothing to shoot at.
It should go without saying that the individual you name or the ‘systemic racism’ you identify, should be real. Factually real. Not ‘lived experience’, not emotional assertions, not ‘everybody knows’.
None of this type of bullshit: “Of the 765 people killed by police in 2020, 28 percent of them have been black people – despite comprising only 13 percent of the US population.” ~ The Sun.
Sure, 765 people killed. There’s over 350,000,000 people in the US. We’re already dealing with a fraction of a fraction yet the sentence is written, blatantly, amateurishly, to imply the US is a war zone and the cops are hunting black people. Absolute bullshit propaganda by morons with axes to grind. 28% of 765 is what, 214? Two hundred and 14 black men shot and killed by police in a year in a nation of over 350 million. Firstly, that’s almost a typical month in Chicago of black people killing black people. Secondly, what is the context of each shooting? Doesn’t that matter? It kind of does.
So, no, I’m not going to join the madness.
Hello Kenneth,
I am sorry that you misunderstood my article entirely. You seem to be responding to a CRT/BLM advocate. I do not believe that there is systemic racism in America. I do not support CRT, BLM, Antifa or the Woke propaganda. I am against the oppressed vs oppressor dichotomy created by CRT and propagated by BLM. I wish you would go back and read my first three articles in this series here on Alaska Watchman. However, my emphasis is on the lingering consequences of the inequalities created by educational/economic segregation, racial profiling, and other racially induced maltreatment of Blacks in our recent past. You do not need specific examples to acknowledge historical facts of slavery, Social Darwinism, Jim Crow laws, the eugenics movement, police brutality, wrongful incarcerations, the KKK lynching, racial profiling, and the economic deprivation of Black America.
My argument is that whereas there is no systemic racism in the USA and whereas racism has been outlawed, the inequalities and hardships created by the extended periods of these atrocities and the recency of their occurrence are too evident for anyone to ignore. While BLM and CRT are backward looking with a false narrative of amplifying the atrocities of the past as though they are ongoing, my call to action is centered on the present reality of an unfinished task by conservative whites in righting the wrongs meted out in the past. Mine is a forward-looking continuum of all the progress that have been achieved over the years by civil rights advocates. We must continue MLK’s legacy not only for the eradication of racism but for the development of true brotherhood where there is equality without prejudice.
You may like to know that 90% of Black people who lived through the period of KKK lynching and segregation suffer from PTSD. Also, economic deprivation includes restriction from property ownership, destruction of Black Wall Street in Oklahoma, mass incarceration of Black males, prejudice in hiring and credit lines for Black-owned small businesses. These deprivations may have drastically diminished, but the experience of a Black person in rising from its rubble is such that no one would wish even an enemy. Look beyond the madness created by CRT and BLM and see the reality of a people on a journey to equality, a God-given right which they were egregiously denied for centuries. Look beyond the propaganda and the race card narrative and you will see inequalities yet to be resolved. It takes compassion and introspection to understand my point.