Martin Luther King's Dream Elusive 30 Years After His Death
April 5, 1998 - 0:0
MEMPHIS Martin Luther King's dream remains elusive to millions of U.S. blacks as the country marks the anniversary of his assassination in this southern city three decades ago. Exactly 30 years ago on Saturday, King black leader, champion of the urban poor, Nobel Peace Prize winner was gunned down as he stood on the balcony of room 306 at the Lorraine Motel. A single bullet from James Earl Ray's rifle silenced King at age 39 but failed to end his battle for racial justice and equality that today remains far from over for the nation's 34 million blacks.
Despite real progress in recent decades, equal opportunity for African Americans remains an unrealized dream, said Joan Wallace-Benjamin of the National Urban League, one of the nation's oldest and most respected black organizations. In a speech in San Diego last summer, President Bill Clinton himself recognized that the question of race in the United States was unresolved. Urging the nation to enter a candid conversation on the topic, Clinton said that of all the questions of discrimination and prejudice that still exist in our society, the most perplexing one is the oldest: the problem of race.
During his historic appearance on the steps of Washington's Lincoln memorial in 1963, King had spoken passionately about his dream for the United States, a utopian vision that at the height of the battle for civil rights in the 1960s nevertheless seemed within reach. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood, he said.
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. Today some 74 percent of blacks age 25 or older have high school diplomas and 13 percent have college degrees up from just eight percent in 1980, according to government figures.
But many black professionals complain that whites remain skeptical of their competence and abilities. And while the average revenue of black families has risen in recent years, infant mortality, unemployment and criminality plague many more blacks than whites. Jobs have disappeared in the nation's blighted urban centers, while the disproportionate number of young black men behind bars have forced some states to spend more on prisons than on universities.
And while 72 percent of whites are homeowners, only 45 percent of U.S. blacks can afford to buy a house. ``America has gone far in many ways," said Lenny Steinhorn, a professor and civil rights specialist at American University in Washington. Laws of equal opportunity are in place, we have a very strict anti-discrimination and anti-racist ethos. But at the same time, what has not changed is that white people still continue not to want to live with black people.
White people don't want their children to go to school with blacks. The workplace is divided by race. Clinton's initiatives on race give us the illusion of doing something when nothing is really done, she told AFP. Major celebrations were planned here for Saturday and Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of the assassination of the only black American whose birthday has been made a national holiday celebrated on a Monday in January.(AFP)
Despite real progress in recent decades, equal opportunity for African Americans remains an unrealized dream, said Joan Wallace-Benjamin of the National Urban League, one of the nation's oldest and most respected black organizations. In a speech in San Diego last summer, President Bill Clinton himself recognized that the question of race in the United States was unresolved. Urging the nation to enter a candid conversation on the topic, Clinton said that of all the questions of discrimination and prejudice that still exist in our society, the most perplexing one is the oldest: the problem of race.
During his historic appearance on the steps of Washington's Lincoln memorial in 1963, King had spoken passionately about his dream for the United States, a utopian vision that at the height of the battle for civil rights in the 1960s nevertheless seemed within reach. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood, he said.
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. Today some 74 percent of blacks age 25 or older have high school diplomas and 13 percent have college degrees up from just eight percent in 1980, according to government figures.
But many black professionals complain that whites remain skeptical of their competence and abilities. And while the average revenue of black families has risen in recent years, infant mortality, unemployment and criminality plague many more blacks than whites. Jobs have disappeared in the nation's blighted urban centers, while the disproportionate number of young black men behind bars have forced some states to spend more on prisons than on universities.
And while 72 percent of whites are homeowners, only 45 percent of U.S. blacks can afford to buy a house. ``America has gone far in many ways," said Lenny Steinhorn, a professor and civil rights specialist at American University in Washington. Laws of equal opportunity are in place, we have a very strict anti-discrimination and anti-racist ethos. But at the same time, what has not changed is that white people still continue not to want to live with black people.
White people don't want their children to go to school with blacks. The workplace is divided by race. Clinton's initiatives on race give us the illusion of doing something when nothing is really done, she told AFP. Major celebrations were planned here for Saturday and Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of the assassination of the only black American whose birthday has been made a national holiday celebrated on a Monday in January.(AFP)