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“Keeping The Dream Alive”
continued from page 14
stores in Birmingham to launching a
war on poverty at the 1963 march on
Washington, to speaking out against
the Vietnam war in 1967. Rev. King’s
non-violent movement was not rele
gated to the south. He led movements
in Chicago, Harlem, Baltimore and all
around the nation.
It was at the 1963 march on
Washington that our beloved Martin is
most prominently remembered, for it
was here that he made his world
renowned “I Have a Dream” speech,
the basis for this morning’s breakfast
theme — “Keeping the Dream Alive.”
Over 250,000 people, mostly
black and some Jewish and white sup
porters, convened in Washington, DC
on August 28, 1963 to march for jobs
and freedom. The march was organ
ized by A. Philip Randolph, who was
regarded as the Dean of America’s
black leaders, having organized the
black sleeping car porters decades ear
lier.
The last speaker at the march, fol
lowing a long list of speakers and
entertainers, among which was
Mahalia Jackson who sang a rousing
rendition of “I've been buked and I've
been scorned,” a very appropriate
selection, Dr. King was introduced by
Mr. Randolph as “the moral leader of
the nation.” :
At previous speaking engage
ments, Dr. King had used the phrase “I
Have a Dream” as a refrain, but not in
a full thematic speech displayed in the
breadth and depth of the message he
delivered that hot, sweltering day in
the nation’s capital.
One of the most insightful and
philosophical passages in this momen
tous speech reads: “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. I have a
dream today!”
Martin Luther King, Jr. first made
those remarks nearly 40 years ago. -
And, today I stand before youasa
jubilant witness that we are indeed liv
ing a part of his dream. Much has
changed over the last 40 years. Yes,
much has changed since 1963 for peo
ple of color living in America. We are
grateful to the civil rights activists, “the
ground crew” of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Today, segregation is an ugly
skeleton in America’s closet.
In 2003, we can drive our Lexus,
Cadillac, SUV, or Mercedes Benz right
up to the front door of the Marriott,
Hilton or Hyatt Hotel. We don’t have
to take our own bags in or think about
entering the back door of the hotel.
We are voting in record numbers,
but not record enough. (We are cog
nizant of what happened during “elec
tion 2002” right here in our own city.)
It has been said that the black vote
delivered the presidency to Bill
Clinton in 1992 and to Al Gore in
2000, but we know how the Florida
debacle changed that scenario.
Tiger Woods comes to the
Augusta Masters® as the champion, not
as a caddy as minorities did in the
past. Hollywood has even created a
television show on the lifetime televi
sion network about the modern day
friendship of a successful African
American woman dttorney and her
best friend, a white woman who is not
so successful professionally. The show
is named “Any Day Now” and is set in
1960 s Birmingham and Birmingham
today. Yes, much has changed since
1963 and we are living a
part of Dr. King’s dream.
Another significant change
is that of the 1960’
Birmingham, Alabama —
a city that was so segregat
ed and racist with frequent
bombings of the homes
and meeting places of civil
rights activists that the city
was commonly called
“Bombingham.” Yet in
1979, Richard Arrington,
an Alpha man, was elected
mayor of Birmingham,
serving from 1979 to 1985,
and the city thrives today
as an ideal urban setting
for professional and blue
collar African Americans.
The amazing changes
do not end in Birmingham.
In our state of Georgia, the
municipality of Stone
Mountain has altered itself
with a major face lift.
Realizing that in the 1960 s
Stone Mountain, GA was a
haven for the Ku Klux
Klan, Dr. King said in his
“I Have a Dream” speech
on the issue of our being
free one day: “This will be
the day when all God’s
children will be able to sing
with new meaning ‘my
country ‘tis of thee, sweet
land of liberty, of thee I sing., Land
where my fathers died, land of the pil
grim’s pride, from every mountainside
let freedom ring... let freedom ring
from Stone Mountain in Georgia!”
Today Stone Mountain is pre
dominantly populated with affluent
African American residents, and 40
years after Dr. King’s expressed dream,
Charles Burris, an Alpha Phi Alpha
man, a Morehouse man who first visit
ed Stone Mountain for a college picnic
and returned for his second visit to be
faced with a Klan rally, was elected as
mayor of Stone Mountain, Georgia in
1997 and still holds that position
today.
Being the wise and sagacious
Delta woman that I am, I will not let
my jubilation over the progress made
mask injustices and inequities that still
linger today. As I take a closer look, I
recognize that some of the very condi
tions that Dr. King protested have
changed, but the issues remain the
same. The conditions have changed
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but the issues remain the same. The
work of Dr. King focused primarily on
three areas racism, poverty and voting
rights. And, now, nearly four decades
later we are facing racism, economic
concerns, and voter education instead
of voter registration.
Today in 2003, African Americans
continue to lobby for equal employ
ment opportunities and fair hiring
practices. In some instances, we may
call that affirmative action. Affirmative
Action has been a major news headlin
er over the last several days, in the
court case of the University of
Michigan regarding its admissions pol
icy and its efforts to level the playing
field and achieve diversity in its stu
dent population.
We expect affirmative Action to
give African Americans equal access, a
level playing field; we are not asking
companies to hire us if we are not
qualified; we are asking universities
and law schools to reserve admittance
slots for us in achieving diversity on
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