"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!" MLK said 59 yrs ago.
Now many say MLK’s Dream was realized once The US elected a black man, which proved we were not racist anymore.

I disagree.
Are we really any closer to realizing his dream, when Nixon’s 51yo War on Minorities rages on?
The War on Minorities is disguised as a “Drug War”, which has resulted in more people in prison than any other country on planet Earth, by far.
With 4% of the world’s pop we have 25% of the world’s prisoners and minorities make up a disproportionately large population of that.
More than China or North Korea, the “Land of the Free”
As long as we tolerate continuing Nixon’s War on Minorities, another year, we are officially systemically racist in our roots.

schrodingerscat Wrote:
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> . . . we are officially systemically racist in our roots.

On the one hand you say the United States is systemically racist, on the other you denounce affirmative action to relieve that racism as wrong because it (allegedly) cost your rich white son a job.

The difference between you and Bill Maher is he gets paid for his lack of moral consistency.

I agree with John McWhotter and Glenn Lowry 100% on Affirmative Action.

It doesn’t help those most in need.
Those most in need are sitting in our overstuffed prisons on meaningless charges and in homeless camps and going to bed starving.

That and it’s racist against Asians to discriminate against them because they do well on SAT’s.

https://youtu.be/vLVwfCfdOMg

Oh, yes...the differences (both practical and philosophical) are astounding.

The maternal side of my family all came from the Oklahoma/Kansas/Arkansas area, my step-Grandfather was (in Kansas, when he was growing up and when he was a younger adult) KKK--and, during my growing up years in southern California, he was still immensely proud of his former membership--after all, he had proven to the world that he would do the "work" to keep non-white Americans (especially black Americans) "in their [proper] place."

Growing up, Thanksgiving and Christmas each year were nightmares for me, since I was a convenient target for [maternal side] family criticism and [maternal side] family argument, meant to illustrate to all the folly of thinking that black Americans were, actually, genuine REAL Americans. (To my observation, I'm not all that sure my maternal relatives considered black Americans to be real human beings. The deep-seated prejudice on my Mom's side of the family was (to me) incomprehensible.)

Decades later, one [of several] reasons I converted to Judaism was that I would never ever again be compelled to "celebrate Christmas" because my Christmas memories were so fearfully stomach-churning.

As I grew older, one by one, non-white (most especially black, but this also applied to Asian-American and Latino-American) Californians in southern California would run for office, or would be promoted into the higher ranks in the Police and Fire Departments (well known to everyone as being strongholds of southern California white supremacy). Candidate by candidate, election by election, government sector by government sector, year by year, we in California began to truly create equal access for all Americans.

The differences between "now" and "then" are immense--so immense that back then I could not have fantasized in my most unbounded fantasies what would actually occur during my own lifetime.

I have lived through this process in my family, in my state, and in my country, and I know acutely well how far we as Americans have already come.

We still have a ways to go, but we're well on the path to getting there.

Don't ever doubt the real life progress which has been made during my own lifetime, because--regardless of how far we still have to go--that progress has been, by my (say) 10-year-old standards, very close to unbelievable.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2022 01:32AM by Tevai.

Alabama certainly is better than it was. I think for the most part we get along better than those with a political agenda would care to admit. There’s people who want to create division because it suits their agenda.

Did your watch/ listen to Democracy Now (yet) today?

Dr. King's speech on April 3rd, 1967 (not 1957).
On the war in Vietnam! Condemning the US_V. war!
It was POWERFUL-

His Memphis speech the night before his murder.
He knew something(s). He felt for so many.
And wow!

He was charging the people, with ACTION.
He had such vision, kindness, and wisdom.

I'd suggest watching https://www.democracynow.org
Or listening-

Everyday,

If you don't already

Today KEXP (Seattle radio station) Dr. MLK , Jr., speeches in songs celebrate his history and legacy today. Definitely worth listening! http://kexp.org

~Dancing to the Dream~

I'm black and I'm beautiful

The first Black woman in Virginia history to hold state-wide office gavels the state Senate into order!

https://twitter.com/LVozzella/status/1483124378745413635

On Martin Luther King day, no less!

"Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others."

He was a smart man
A deeply thoughtful human
Knowledgeable and committed
He was brave and also feared

Talk about love, vision, hope...
FOR ALL