Moving The Dream Forward
We, as a nation have set aside the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to honor the man and his work. Few men have made so indelible a mark on America as Dr. King. He did so by claiming the moral high ground, and mounting the struggle of his people from there. He gained progress for his people not because of his charisma (which he was blessed with), or his talent in making back room deals (now considered an necessary requisite). He made progress because he was right, and America saw that rightness.
He sought justice for his people. He sought to attain equal protection under the law for black America - a group who suffered the institutional bondage of slavery. Upon the abolition of slavery, the freed slaves and their descendants continued to live at the margins of society. Laws were enacted and ignored. Work-arounds were created. Justice was denied time and time again.
By the time he was assassinated, Dr. King was well into the process of gaining that justice. He led at an important time in the march to a colorless society. We have not fully arrived yet, but have come a long way. One can argue whether a great man makes history or history calls a man to greatness, but Dr. King and the history of race relations in the United States are forever joined together. Our society is a better one because of his moral courage and steadfastness in the face of adversity.
What a contrast his example is to the current state of affairs in America, where cutting a deal is more important than standing for what is right; where sharp packaging is more important than what is contained inside, where intentions matter more than results. Let us compare and contrast the two.
What Dr. King sought was to assure that under the law, every individual would have the right to live freely and prosper without hindrance. His dream was to unlock the boundless opportunity of America to all, regardless of race or conviction. He looked to see the day when the only judgment passed on a person was with regard to his character.
His primary flock was black America, but all of America benefited from his vision. Dr. King persuaded the Federal government to step in to secure the rights defined in the US Constitution that were being systematically denied to his flock by certain states, and informally by others. Specifically, he called for the enforcement of the Bill of Rights and the 14th & 15th Amendments. He did so not by claiming these rights for his flock alone, but for all Americans - for anyone denied his rights under the Constitution. He argued our commonality, not our divisions.
How sad Dr. King would be now to see how we have devolved into a nation of squabbling children fighting over scraps from the federal goodie bag. The colorless society of boundless opportunity that he sought for all Americans has become a divided house of hyphenated Americans ("Fill in the ethnic group"-American). Labels based on race, religion, ethnicity or some other "difference" determine your share of the national pie.You would never know this walking on the street, or at the store or in the schools. People, by and large, get along - even with racial differences.
Yet, we are not yet a colorless society, or even a rainbow that celebrates diversity while blending together as a unified object of beauty. We are, at least as the government sees us, the paint swatch card at Home Depot - clearly delineated groups categorized and sorted by label. We are expected to stand in line, waiting for our group to be handed it's goodies. The money always grows, and the groups grow to meet the money.
How did this happen? It happened when we made the decision to go beyond the granting and enforcement of rights, and into that ageless dream of a society of equality and harmony - a man-made utopia where no one suffers from want. It stresses not equality of opportunity, but equality of outcome. This is the progressive argument. It appeals to the American conscience in favor of justice, but the appeal is a false argument. Even Jesus acknowledged that the poor would always be with us.It's intention is good, but as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
As an example we can use the expansion of welfare under the "War on Poverty". The driver of this legislation was President Lyndon Johnson who was concerned about poverty in general, and it's effects on the black community in particular. While his intentions were compassionate, his methods were faulty. As the legislation was crafted, it fostered institutional poverty. It has been argued that it contributed to the destruction of the black family in poor urban areas.
Welfare rules rewarded families with an absent father and multiple children at a higher payment than a family with both parents present. Work was discouraged. Any effort at self-improvement threatened to cut off the guaranteed stream of public assistance.
Welfare, public housing and food stamps can all be argued for in the short term. This is where the voice of Dr. King is so missed. He fought so that each individual would have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. He looked for a hand up, not a handout. King's struggle was for the dignity of his flock, not to succumb to dependence or a sense of entitlement for past wrongs. He would be horrified to see the plantation replaced with the projects.
Dr. King was of the position that individual action is what allows a person to reach his potential - personal responsibility in the conduct of one's own life. This was a view that was shared by Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington - two icons in American history. When Dr. King started his work, the road to reaching full potential for a black man was blocked. His movement knocked aside all of those barriers except for the personal racism in the minds of a dying out breed of bigot. Every avenue of success is available regardless of race.
The proof of that is all around us - Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Clarence Thomas, Barack Obama. It is seen in the ever growing black middle class. It was not gained by the government holding the hands of people on their way to success. It was gained by opening doors. It was the action of the individual passing through the door that determined success.
The best example of government actually helping move people in poverty towards Dr. King's dream was the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. In it, a Republican legislature partnered with then President Bill Clinton to find a way to break the despair of generational poverty and dependence. The Reform gave a true boost in education, job training, and life skills to people who did not have the opportunity to learn these things through family and community. It reduced the welfare rolls by 53%, and provided many families the skills they needed to move up out of poverty.This is the way out that Dr. King envisioned - education, application and determination.
"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."
The words echo in all decent people. Being judged by the color of your skin was to think of all as the same. Being judged by the content of your character can only be done individually. What is in each person's character is what makes a person unique. Dr. King's call was to look beyond race and to judge the individual. Opportunity should not be denied because of race, but each individual will make different use of that opportunity. Equality of opportunity is a right, outcome depends on individual talent and effort..
Common Sense Dictates
TPP is a strong supporter of the goals of Dr. King. We have made great strides in achieving King's colorless society, but there are glaring faults doing great damage to his dream that have been institutionalized into the system. We find it disturbing that the principles preached by Rev. King - individual dignity, opportunity, and responsibility - have gotten lost in government proposed "solutions" to poverty. We find it even more maddening that the inheritors of his cause have found it more useful make political hay than to correct the problems.
We need not call out names, but many advocacy groups see more profit, literally, in preserving the current system as is. Rather than make the choices necessary to actually provide their constituency the skills required to succeed and prosper, they advocate for more entitlement benefits. Our Congressional representatives go along to keep the campaign coffers full. Those buried in nearly 50 years of dependence on a system that punishes anyone seeking personal improvement are left once again in despair.
Warehousing the poor in substandard housing, and providing them with a meager subsistence is not the granting of equal opportunity or individual dignity. We already have found that method to fail. We fought a civil war to correct it.
We at TPP remember Dr. King. We can only imagine that he would be beaming with pride at the strides made in overcoming institutionalized racism. He would be outraged by the growth in institutionalized poverty, which disproportionately is inflicted on those he sought to help. Dr. King understood that charity is not tossing money at a problem in the hope that it goes away. Charity consists of working to solve the problem. We have a new generation of leaders taking their place, both within and outside of the black community. It would be a great tribute to Dr. King for this new leadership to pick up the his mantle and provide those left behind with a way forward, not an uncomfortable seat. Moving the dream forward is the only Common Sense.
RLB
Categories: Rights and Responsibilities, Constitutional Issues, Social Policy, Civic Duty, political leadership, Historical perspective
Tags: civic responsibility historical perspective political leadership race relations
Really well stated. I hope the new generation of leadership does step up to solve this issue. It has been a source of pain to it's victims, and a source of shame to those of us who remember what Martin wanted.
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I gotta agree. MLK was the last true emancipator. The movement has made progress since his untimely death, but his successors have been focused more on punishment and less on the redemption of their people. King focused on God and serving others. Way too many of the current batch of leaders, from Jackson to Sharpton, have sought power rather than better conditions for those they claim to fight for.
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Well said, and I tend to agree. But seriously, what can be done to lift these "institutional poverty" people up? Are there any real ideas? The President sold himself on figuring it out and now more people are dependent on the government. What do we need to do?
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We are developing, and continue to develop under the current administration, a system shackling more and more people to government payouts. There are people out of work for going on 2 years now that have given up on finding work and are just taking the unemployment or welfare as a paycheck. We need to start creating jobs if we want anyone moving forward. This slide into the socialism abyss must be stopped.
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I agree that what we've tried from the War on Poverty hasn't worked out all that well. I agree that Clinton was onto something - it might be his best achievement. Still somebody dropped the ball and the economy tanked. I don't think Obama is doing a really great job, but i don't see McCain as doing any better. I think Martin not being here with us is costing us in many ways. God rest his soul.
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King was a visionary leader. we coulduse a little of that now. Instead of bringing people to a fuller life of economic opportunity, we have less rights and a dead economy. I know King wasn't the be all and end all of civil rights. I know that Obama isn't to blame for what happened prior to his taking office. I just wish that we could get someone to lead the country the way King was able to lead the movement.
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You have a very interesting take. A large part of Martin's dream was economic advancement. He understood that the only way to advance economically was for all of the rights that were given to white America need to be enforced for black America. Without those rights, no advancement was possible. He was able to convince President Johnson of the need to level the playing field.
When President Johnson created his programs, it was to deal with a fire that was burning - crushing poverty and no access to public services or jobs. He was able to change behavior on many things. Some things were carried out less than perfectly, but they were necessary - affirmative action, welfare and public housing may seem out of date or not performing today, but during the 1960s they were vital for the black man to get his foot in the door. Maybe it is time to re-examine those solutions, but to blame them for the plight of the inner city poor does not do justice to the good that they produced in the years following their creation.
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Dunston - expecting to getMLK results out of Obama is like expecting George Bush to channel Lincoln. It's just not going to happen. MLK was a giant of a man capable of taking on the challenges of the time. All we have now are little men and women trying to tackle huge problems. I don't see anything getting fixed soon. I'm hoping things don't get screwed up worse.
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The biggest difference between King and our "leaders" now is that King was morally centered. There was a right and a wrong. Nowadays everything is relative - you can make an argument for any behavior, good or bad, and have it accepted. Just look at the Tucson shooting. 6 people are dead and 14 wounded and our so called leadership prattles on about talk radio and the politics of the thing. There is no politics. We have a psycho, not someone making a political statement. Any excuse to take more control. They all should be ashamed. Please pray for the families.
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Rev. King had his followers sign a pledge of non-violence, which he enforced. He denounced any call for violence. This brought him moral authority by having his followers demonstrate that they were absolutely deserving of the rights they were demanding. Law-abiding citizens deserve the rights. People advocating violence do not.
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I have to agree that King was a transformational figure in our history. That said, I'm sensing the Tucson shooting winding it's way in to this conversation. Tucson is a tragedy, and it's on our minds, but I think that tangling the two together is disrespectful to the memory of Martin Luther King. If we concentrate on King's example and conduct, we will know how to deal in the face of the mindless tragedy that happened in Tucson. If we don't we are jjusr adding to the problem.
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MLK was the preacher Dave. He would have recognized that the whole political climate in this country is nothing but violence metaphors. So a Conresswoman gets shot - you don't see a connection?
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Val, i'm gonna touch on this once and only once. A Democrat congresswoman was shot, a Republican judge was killed. A 9 year old girl with no politics was buried today. The shooter has a history of mental problems and brushes with the law. He has no politics other than he's read Marx and Hitler. He's an f-ed up 22 year old with no sense of decency or self. This has nothing to do with Sean Hannity or Keith Olbermann. It also has nothing to do with Obama or the Tea party. It is a senseless tragic event. They say that no one can prevent a madman committed to murder. I think that this falls into that category.
Dr. King would pray for the families of the dead, for the full healing of the wounded, and for the soul of the shooter. He would go about doing what he could to draw lessons from this horrible event to make us all reach to our better angels. He would not steamroll this tragedy by politicizing it and taking the attention off of the victims.
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Well said, Dave.
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A lot of the problem with entrenched poverty now has nothing to do with race, but from a basic change in how the traditional ways of getting skills has changed. It used to be that you start with a company at an entry level position and work your way up. Or you join a union as an unskilled laborer and get apprenticed to a trade. Now everyone seems to jump all over the place, and you need to hit the ground running expected to know what you are doing. There is no transitioning from unskilled to skilled anymore, and THAT is what makes it difficult for anyone left in poverty to climb out.
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I don't know about the way it used to be, but yeah, now you are expected to know what you are doing after a pretty brief training time. You need to come in with a basic skill level that can easily adapt to the career you have chosen. There's no working your way from fry cook to board member anymore.
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It doesn't help that the schools in inner city areas are disasters as well. How do you prep for college or trade school when you can't get the basics in grammar school. I think Dr. King would be all over that. If he had survived it might not even be an issue.
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I can't help but think that King would be shaking his head in dismay that so many people got it wrong. The lockout has switched from race to class, and the most desperate of those he was trying to guild up are still left behind, but for a more acceptable reason.
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I don't think thst racism is an issue for anyone under 30. Sure there are individual haters who judge by skin color, but as a society we have grown past that. It's sort of embarrassing to see Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton out there stirring up trouble to keep themselves relevant. What holds people back now is not race, but as so many have pointed out here, having the tools needed to succeed. Dr. King would be working on that now.
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This has been an interesting discussion. It is eye opening to see so many that feel that racism is dead, when the media steadily reports that it remains a primary problem for our country. I beleive that the difference in perception is generational, more than racial. Still, we have the problems of the inner city. Regardless of what one cares to argue it's cause to be, it needs to be dealt with. How would you propose that we do this?
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In yet another in a long string of clueless moments, our President is out Painting a cafeteria instead of running the country. His comments were about how MLK was committedto service. The best service that Obama could provide is to stop being a show pony and to become a workhorse. I'm sure that the painting contractor sitting home enjoying his unemployment benefits would agree.
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As we compare and contrast the Christian courage, wisdom, and leadership of MLK, a great American, with the moslem cowardice, criminality and thuggery of American hating, Kenyan born Obama, it is shocking how deep the lies of the left run as they appropriate the legitmacy of a patriot and co-opt him for their Marxist espionage. MLK would have something brilliant to say in defiance of this hideous lie.
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I think he would be shedding a True Tear !
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He would be disapointed at the race baiting, and would be upset at how people like Cain, Thomas, and other black conservatives are treated. Remember, he was alive when Jackie Robinson got villified for supporting a republican candidate.
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"Rev" Jackson, Al, the Black Panthers, & the NAACP want us to believe there has bn no progress. If there has bn no improvement for our black citizens, whose fault is it?
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As we compare and contrast the Christian courage, wisdom, and leadership of MLK, a great American, with the moslem cowardice, criminality and thuggery of American hating, Kenyan born Obama, it is shocking how deep the lies of the left run as they appropriate the legitmacy of a patriot and co-opt him for their Marxist espionage. MLK would have something brilliant to say in defiance of this hideous lie.
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