45 Years Later - A Dream Deferred

I fear that a Black president would be an excuse for some to say, "We've paid our debt," and to avoid the much harder work.


Today we commemorate the 45th Anniversary of the so-called "I Have a Dream" speech. I say "so-called" because the speech was over 2/3 complete before Dr. King starts speaking about a "Dream."

Forty-five years ago, Dr. King mounted the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to demand justice. As he said, he came to "cash a check." Forty-five years ago he said, "when the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to every American was to fall heir.

"This was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation."

Watch and listen to the speech as you read on:


Forty-five years ago, Dr. King did not simply espouse a Dream where "little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little White boys and White girls and walk together as sisters and brothers." Racial reconciliation is the culmination of this Dream. But, in Dr. King's "Dream" this reconciliation cannot happen until this nation rises up to "live out the true meaning of it's creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

You see, Reparations will help us to realize the Dream.

We will not all be created equal until the child born in the ghetto has the same chance to achieve greatness as the child born in the suburbs. We will not all be created equal until a Black person going to a hospital has the same chance of survival as the White person in the same hospital. We will not be created equal until "Black Culture" is part and parcel of American Culture, and not treated as some sort of "sub-culture."

Reparations will help us to realize the Dream.

The dream is not realized simply because a Black man stands as the Democratic Nominee. And, the "fierce urgency of now" is this: the opportunity for us to make progress on overcoming racial disparities is slipping away.

You hear pundits, preachers and politicians alike declaring that this moment marks the "Post-racial" era. They want you to believe that Obama's nomination will open the flood-gates of opportunity for Black people. But, the National Urban League tells a different story.

Take the housing crisis for example. Urban League President Marc Morial states:

In fact, according to 2006 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, more than 50 percent of blacks received subprime loans compared with less than 18 percent of whites.

People will use Senator Obama's nomination (on the Anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" Speech) as a testament to the "progress" that's been made. They will all be proud of the "Color Blind Society." But, United for a Fair Economy states in their "State of the Dream 2008" report:

Because people of color are disproportionately poor, many individuals will be helped by some of the proposals. But the "color-blind" nature of the policies will not have any effect on closing the racial economic gap. In fact, race is conspicuously absent from the Democrats' agenda.

Reparations will help us to realize the Dream. Affirmative Action has failed us. And, Black Presidential candidates are not the solution. Yes, it feels good. But, feeling good "don't pay the bills."

Those who have read the entire text of this "I Have a Dream" speech realize that he's arguing for a form of reparations. Yet, while we compare Senator Obama to Dr. King on this (now doubly) important date in history, we're faced with the fact that Senator Obama is against reparations. He says:

If we have a program, for example, of universal health care, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because they're disproportionately uninsured," Obama said. "If we've got an agenda that says every child in America should get — should be able to go to college, regardless of income, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because it's oftentimes our children who can't afford to go to college.

Yet, United for a Fair Economy says again:

Moving everyone one rung up the ladder won't change the fact that those on the lower rungs are disproportionately people of color.

And, those on the lower rungs will continue to be on the lower rungs...moving the ladder up higher doesn't manifest equality - only a higher standard of inequality.

Tonight, you will hear them speak of racial progress. Yet, as Bill Reed points out:

White households’ average net worth of $468,200 is six times that of black households’ $75,000.   Blacks’ plight is not being represented in political parties’ platforms and if nothing is done to accelerate black progress, it will take blacks 6 years to close the high school graduation gap, 71 years to close the disparities in college graduation and 581 years to close gaps in per-capita income gap and 1,664 years for the one in home ownership. 

If you haven't seen enough, here are some more sites:

• The State of the Dream
• State of the Black Economy
• Center for Urban Research and Learning
  

All of this, and they lull us to sleep by saying that Barack Obama is the realization of Dr. King's Dream.

Now, my problem is not with Obama. This is the mainstream and the media using this situation to their benefit. This is the mainstream using this historic moment as another opportunity to further neutralize the political power of the Black community.

Reparations will help us to realize the Dream.

Forty-five years ago, Dr. King did not speak out simply so that Black men could run for President. Dr. King spoke out demanding equality. So, I say to you today, my friends, that the dream is yet to be achieved. I say that we still have much work to do. I say, go ahead and support Obama if you like. Yet regardless of your choice, to realize the dream we must become vigilant. We must organized if we are to protect ourselves from those who will day that "racism is dead."

In a 2004 questionnaire, Senator Obama told the NAACP, "I fear that reparations would be an excuse for some to say, 'We've paid our debt,' and to avoid the much harder work."

Well, I agree. And, I fear that a Black president would be an excuse for some to say, "We've paid our debt," and to avoid the much harder work." So, let's get to work!

Come and Get Your Reparations!