Golden Anninversary of "I Have a Dream"

50 years ago today, Dr. King delivered his inspirational speech for the future of the Union. A speech in which he issued a challenge, a speech in which he spoke of freedom and justice. 50 years later that speech has lost none of its power, and 50 years later much of what he dreamed is no longer a dream, but a promise fulfilled; the check he himself could not cash at the bank is being honored for others. Five decades later, those who judge by the color of skin instead of the content of character are a decided minority in our society.

But I wonder. Three years ago another rally was held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. At that rally, the National Parks Service insisted that the rostrum not be placed at the top of the steps in deference to the historic nature of Dr. King's speech. Will the commemoration also honor that memory or will our president and others deliver their remarks from the same spot that Dr King spoke?

I also wonder if the "progressive" left truly wants to have a color blind society or if their dream requires racial tensions and divides be kept alive in order to be achieved. Bigotry, like poverty, will always be a part of human existence. Whether that bigotry is motivated by the color of one's skin, or what one chooses to believe, it will never be eradicated entirely here or anywhere else. That is a sad reality, but a reality nonetheless. I mention this because it seems to me that it is necessary to remind the race baiters that isolated instances of racism within a society does not a racist society make.

The failure to condemn racist acts and racists promptly and vehemently does create a racist society. Just because you are not in the position of having racist acts perpetrated against you does not mean racism is still not prevalent in our current society. A true "color-blind" society is only possible when the color of one's skin no longer matters. Clearly as can be seen in this forum, racism is still glossed over and apologists stick up for those perpetrating such acts.

Thank you Dr. Martin Luther King for having a dream. Much has been done and still more to be done.

Perhaps I haven't read as much of the forum STDS but I fail to find the racism you speak of on this forum. Do you condemn it if it is indeed racist?

Just my observation.....NOT much diversity on ANY of these forums....bound,PC or others....from
where I sit, it appears like a "white bread society"....but then, JMO......racial profiling is rampant
and IF you really understood what it is like to be a minority person I don't believe you would
agree with PS.....I believe you would say it has gone "on the down low".....INSIDIOUS and covert......(after all,It is NOT PC to be blatant about the topic).....again, JMO

Based on my experiences within the United States and outside of it, I do not believe there is a lot of diversity in most of Colorado...most of it is found in the Denver metro area, with a little in Colorado Springs, and very little in Grand Junction. This is the way it was when I was in high school and while I did not think of myself as racist (prejudiced=yes...all of us "pre judge"; bigoted=no), I did not understand what racism was truly about until I was stationed in Arkansas.

While a lot has been done to educate about racism, sexism, or any other "ism" that is included in bigotry, it most certainly does exist. And in some places in the United States is embraced (where I was stationed in Arkansas in the late '80's, they still had a "hanging tree" and whites went to Wal-Mart while blacks went to K-Mart...also when I was stationed in Spokane Washington nearby up-state Idaho was a hotbed of racist activity).

I agree with HomeAgain...it is insidious and covert and there are those out there that despite the education given them, still persist in believing that those of a different color (or those that are different, period) are not good enough (I had one guy tell me that black people went to hell 'cuz the bible said so).

My aim was to educate my children to treat all humans with respect, whatever their skin color, hair color, religion, age, abilities...as long as they looked like humans, they deserved respect. It was the only control I had...and on more than one occasion, they have gently put their friends or other kids their age on notice that discrimination would not be tolerated within their presence...and one of these people even changed their minds about people of a different religion because of it. I educated two people, now each of them can educate two people, and so on...it is the only way to work towards a world with no discrimination or bigotry.

No doubt there is still covert hate and it can be insidious. But I also think we have come a long way to change much of it. And there is still much to do in the black and white communities. Without disclosing my work I can tell you that some blacks just like some whites can be just as racist as the next guy. But in 50 years I believe we have made progress.

ComputerBreath thank you for your approach. We can all make a difference.

BOTH sides of the issue (black and white)have problems relating to each other.....what is particular sad is a young black girl talking about her skin color and wishing it were "lighter"/whiter
and feeling ashamed of her blackness.

In the past, not sure how long ago, a tan paper sack was a benchmark for skin color variation
and the darker skin color (against the tan of the sack) was undesirable.....black on black
racism....

It seems the long ago song by EN VOGUE has NOT changed things....

"FREE YOUR MIND
AND THE REST WILL FOLLOW"

"BE COLOR BLINDED, DON'T BE SO SHALLOW.....FREE YOUR MIND".

STILL, when you look back at the 60's and then fast forward to today,yes SOME progress
has been made, however, I believe MLK would be dismayed that in 2013 a young black boy
was shot dead because he was wearing a hoodie (on a dark rainy nite)......(profiled)...JMO

Diversity in Colorado? Lots of Hispanics here. Not as many African Americans. Lots of Asians too.

Something the Dog Said wrote: The failure to condemn racist acts and racists promptly and vehemently does create a racist society. Just because you are not in the position of having racist acts perpetrated against you does not mean racism is still not prevalent in our current society. A true "color-blind" society is only possible when the color of one's skin no longer matters. Clearly as can be seen in this forum, racism is still glossed over and apologists stick up for those perpetrating such acts.

Do I have the right to tell another what they must believe Dog? Do you? People here are given the freedom to believe according to their own conscience. That is exactly how it should be, wouldn't you agree?

Society will never be color-blind entirely. That is a pollyanna pipe dream. The best that can be hoped for is a society in which the vast majority are color blind, which is exactly what we have in our Union today. Today children of different races do play side by side, do walk together in the brotherhood spoken of by King. Today the majority do judge based on the content of one's character rather than the color of one's skin. Gallop released a poll in July of this year which showed that 87% approved of interracial marriages today compared to only 4% in 1958. 1 in 12 marriages are multiracial now (an all time high), 4.8 million households in the Union, nearly 6% of all children under the age of 18 are multiracial.

Are there still bigots who judge based on the color of skin? Of course there are, there always will be, but it is a small minority of people today who hold such beliefs in our Union today, not the majority.

FOR YOU PS....... http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-576 ... -been-met/