Would Martin Be Happy With Us?

Tomorrow we celebrate what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 80th birthday as a national holiday (his birthday was actually January 15th), basking in the weekend celebration of the Obama Express rolling into Washington, D.C. and culminating with the Inauguration of our first African American President on Tuesday. Yes, it will be momentous day for black folk all over the country and world, however if Martin Luther King Jr. is looking at us as a people today, he's probably quite bewildered with where we've come in the 40 years since his death.

The civil rights leaders who followed him, appear to have only been in the "movement" for the financial and individual advantages that the position provided them. Martin Luther King Jr. was truly called for his position, and as we can see as a people, another Martin has not been created. Forever the visionary, King would also be bewildered by what appears to be a very troubling future for the educated black male. Drop out rates in most Inner City Schools are at or approaching 50%, which will mean that local jail systems will more than likely continue to be overpopulated as the uneducated black male will turn to the lure of drugs and crime to display unnerving violent tendencies. The sad thing about this fact is that we'll then have conservative pundits like Ann Coulter blaming single mothers for raising criminals when the reality is that at some point everyone has to be accountable for their own actions.

King would probably be excited about what the future holds with Barack Obama about to be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Obama stands as a testament of what can be accomplished, and as African Americans we have to take everything to the next level in term of focus and determination, because that level playing field that we've been searching for has been leveled for all Americans. Circuit City closing it's doors and costing our county 30,000 jobs is affecting every person regardless of color, so how about all of us taking on the challenge of continuing to dream Martin's dream with the zest that Barack Obama has shown us. We now know that anything truly is possible with hard work and a vision. Let's continue to try to turn Martin's dream into a reality, because right now we're on the verge of turning it into a nightmare.