10 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes That Show His Dream Hasn’t Come True
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The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech during the 1963 March On Washington and is often regarded as his most important work. But those hopes that Rev. King had for the nation in regards to race relations still haven’t come true. But those hopes that Rev. King had for the nation in regards to race relations still haven’t come true.
Without a doubt, the racial tensions present during the heights of the Civil Rights Movement is not as intense today. However, there does exist division between the people of different races along with a simmering anger over injustices against people of color.
Hip-Hop Wired takes a look at 10 Martin Luther King Jr. quotes that show his dream still hasn’t come true.
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Photo: Public Domain/LOC
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 which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable 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, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
This excerpt from Rev. King’s “I Have A Dream Speech” is sometimes overlooked but is certainly relevant today. Racial profiling of Black and Latino citizens, the xenophobia some white people in parts of the country that still believe in, and the overall imbalance of justice definitely highlights the relevance of the quote.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
Also from the “I Have A Dream” speech, Rev. King would no doubt be appalled today to know that the deaths of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Aura Rosser and countless others at the hands of police still leave us baffled.
Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.
Rev. King delivered this line in his 1967 speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” in New York. While the speech was aimed at an end to the losing battle America was waging against the Asian nation, it would possibly trouble Rev. King to know many are still trying to recapture that “revolutionary spirit” he talks about in the speech. The Vietnam War was a financial disaster and the loss of lives was countless. King instead wanted a focus on what needed to be handled in America at the time. In that respect, King would have balked at the War In Iraq and the toll it took.
We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.
Despite the truth of this powerful quote from King, many today still act undivided and fearful of unity.
Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
The shooting death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his killer, George Zimmerman, was seen by many as a failure as referenced in the quote from Rev. King. And like the cases in Ferguson, New York, and Cleveland, justice is still evasive in the 21st Century.
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.
Although Rev. King’s children did their best to carry out their father’s legacy and dream, people of color are still disproportionately left behind in a variety of areas while others flourish.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.
Although things are slowly changing for the better, there is still an “Every Man For Himself” mentality that Rev. King was staunchly against.
The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.
Without a doubt, there are many today who have taken a stance to not get involved in the affairs of the world on either side.
Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
Rev. King endured much to make his dream a reality, even death. Today, the leader would possibly be disappointed by some displays of bitterness and anger by certain individuals in the current movements.
I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.
Rev. King’s desire for racial equality is a dream many are striving for but wonder if it will ever come to be.
