Black History: The Dream that Keeps Going

(The new MLK Memorial is scheduled to be dedicated at the National Mall in D.C. on Aug. 28)

By Bro. De'Andre Banks and Jerome Nathaniel

During the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Church was and continues to be the bedrock for a myriad of social justice issues under the guise of unity. It was during this prolific era that many of the struggles that we thrive on today were merely dreams differed. The quintessential essence of the movement and its principles is personified as we review just 17 minutes that changed the face of America, as we know it.

On August 28th, 1963, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. caught the attention of the nation with his “I Have a Dream Speech.” The son and grandson of pastors, Dr. King used Christian principles and rhetoric to challenge a contradictory reality that did not match America’s projected ideals. His words proved to be a benchmark for understanding the social and political upheaval of the time and gave the nation a vocabulary to express what was happening. Dr. King was able to captivate 200,000 listeners, not counting the families who tuned in by radio or picked up the paper throughout the week, with his allusions to Amos 5:24, Psalms 30:5 and Isaiah 40:4-5 — verses that call for justice, diligence and faith. It was with intense emotion and infallible certainty that his dream was forecast to all that were present. Dr. King’s dream was solidified with references to idioms relevant to the social concerns of the era, particularly the prevalence of Jim Crow, or institutionalized racism through segregation, and poverty.

As we move forward almost five decades later, and prepare for a long awaited memorial to the legendary Civil Rights leader at the National Mall on the 48^th anniversary of his speech (as pictured in the photo above), one may say that the pinnacle of Dr. King’s speech was the Inaugural Address that was made by President Barack Obama just over two-years ago. While we cannot deny the monumental significance of President Obama’s inauguration as the first president of African descent, there is still a tremendous amount of unfulfilled dreams that Dr. King preached about at the Lincoln Memorial. King preached about a “lonely island of poverty” that continues to permeate communities of color.

“One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity,” King preached. “One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.”

Nearly fifty years later, I fear that those same words ring as we reflect on our community. As Freshman Rep. Allen West, R-Fla, one of two Black-Americans in the House Republican conference, notes, “The exorbitantly high unemployment rate, the second- and third-generation welfare families, the rampant decimation of the inner-city black communities, the incarceration rate of young black men, and the breakdown of the black family would all bring a tear to his eye.” What we have today is an institutionalized plantation that has subtly enslaved and conditions our minds to accept an inferior socio-economic and political status as a norm. But Dr. King never said the Dream was easy, or that it would be fulfilled in the ’60s.

“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy….Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning."

Forty-eight years later, our obligation remains the same. As our nation escaped by just an inch from defaulting on its financial obligations, the promissory not that King spoke of ("the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned") has yet to be met. I charge you to read and listen to his speech during these next two weeks, plan to do something in your community on August 28, and cover yourself with the armor of God to fulfill the Dream. There is no time to rest in our progress: we must continue to press towards the mark.

Bro. De'Andre Banks received his Master's Degree from Lincoln University and has over a decade of social service and case managerial experience.