The Dream

Irv Everett Thu 11 Nov 2010, 5:06 pm

The Dream

While watching the Presidential election, I was taken by the number of people that believe this election had something to do with the “I have a Dream” speech of Martin Luther King; and how the “Dream” had come true. The answer to this thinking is no; the “Dream” has not come true. The first black President of the United States of America was not the “Dream” of Martin Luther King. Granted, this election will go down in history as one of our Nation’s greatest defining moments; but it’s not the “Dream”.
Martin Luther King’s speech was about equality and injustice; “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:” “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”… He echoed the sentiments of Abraham Lincoln: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
Both men spoke of equality for all, both men had dreams for our nation; but neither was speaking about our first black President. Racism, prejudice, and discrimination still exist today; as it did in their day. The election of our first black President hasn’t changed the “Dream” and this new President will not change the “Dream”. Lincoln and King saw something much more for America. Theirs was a more spiritual dream, where a man sees the soul or spirit of a man instead of his skin color.
Each of us carry our own bias or prejudice and this was what Lincoln and King were addressing. Pastor Shirley Caesar-Williams preached “God has vindicated the black folks” referencing the election of Senator Obama to the Presidency and said “he looks like us”. Skin color not dream; shin tone not soul or spirit; prejudice, racism, and discrimination, all very much alive.
Even the 106 year old woman in Atlanta, President Obama hailed so highly, got it wrong. She said “the first black president isn’t that something”. And yes it is! But true prejudice and bias will only be reconciled when a man of ethnic origin becomes president and no one notices. I do, however, see the benefits of electing our first black President upon the black community; like seeing a young black man succeed after growing up in a single parent home. And like seeing where higher education can take a person; like seeing what hard work and dedication can do for a person and a person’s career.
I wish President Obama well in his Presidency and I’m in hopes that our country will make a tremendous turn around. But the facts still remains, we are a prejudice people with racial bias and discriminatory tendencies. All of us know this statement is true; simply by having beauty pageants for one ethnic group or the other, by having colleges for one or the other, music and so on. President Obama is not the Messiah nor is he the Dream; for the Dream is like God’s love. God sent his only son to die for you and me. Christ’s blood covers our sins and reconciles our debt with God. God only sees the soul and spirit; not the body. That is the Dream; only seeing the soul or spirit of men. Yes, we elected the first black President in our Nation’s history, a great defining moment; but when we can love our fellow man as we love ourselves, then and only then, will we be living the true “Dream”.