He Had A Dream ~April 4, 1968~ Has It Been Realized?
On January 15,1929, Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta Georgia. Thirty-Four years later, Dr. King delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and on April 4, 1968 he was taken from us by an assassins bullet as he stood on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. It was there that the life blood of a man who believed in non-violence lost his final battle. He Had A Dream and such a dream it was (**SEE VIDEO**). Forty-One years have passed since he last felt the warmth of the Memphis sun on his face and I wonder...Has the dream been fully realized or have we simply lulled ourselves into thinking it has. Is the work done or are there still tasks that lie ahead that must be conquered? Give us your view of the aftermath of that speech and tell us if its relevance is purely historical or must the dream still seek its end.
Yes, It Has
Side Score: 1
|
 |
No, It Has Not
Side Score: 6
Winning Side! |
|
|
|
|
People have the right to drink at water fountains, ride buses, vote, and become President, regardless of their race. So clearly, the dream has. If we're going to define realization of this dream on some "perfect" world where bigots don't exist, then it'll never be realized, since there will always be a few bigots. Side: Yes, It Has
|
3
points
His dream in its entirety has not yet been accomplished in the United States. We have come very far since that speech, but there is still plenty to be done. I don't think he realized the scope of people his civil rights speeches would influence. The civil rights movement now, in my opinion, has been stalled by the law; people are not rising up to the call in the numbers that people did during the 60's and 70's. But his dream was ambitious and I'm sure he was not ignorant to the fact that this would take years upon years to accomplish. Has rasicm ceased to show its face in our society? Heck no! Growing up in the little town I did not realize it was so widespread, once I moved to the city I noticed it immediately. Rich white nieghborhoods bordering poor black neighborhoods. (the seperation is by street) I can tell you 80% of the race of a person will be based simply by the color of trains here in chicago. Green line is almost all black, blue is a mix of everything, pink line it black and hispanic, red line once you pass roosevelt is almost all black and poor white, brown line is almost all white yuppies, orange is very hispanic and polish, purple line is the same as the brown... I think that's all the lines. You then can expand that to see what regions those trains go to and the tax money that is invested into those neighborhoods and it's sad. People speak of food deserts, which is a place that lacks grocery stores etc, and you'll see them highly concentrated in poor communities, typically black. I'll stop there. I think his movement made a huge movement in the 70's and 80's, but it has been stalled in the 90's and the 00's. Side: No, It Has Not
1
point
I could not agree more than I do with your take on MLK's successes and legacy. I believe we've come a long way but, as you do, I feel there is more work to be done and we must never lose sight of the years since Abolition and The Dream speech plus the years that have passed since his untimely death. As a child I was not fully aware of the struggle. I too come from a small town but spent the better part of my lifetime in and around New York City. It was then I started to realize the extreme differences in the views of people. When I was a very young child I lived next door to a colored family, as we called them then, and no one made a big deal about my being friends with Junior, the boy next door. All through school I had friends from every strata of our town and I saw no difference in them as the adults did. So, the work is not done and we must make certain that a human holocaust of any kind does not happen again in our land. So many of us still have the dream within us and we live it from day to day. Let that be our task then. To look into the eyes of a black brother or sister and remind them that the dream still lives. Side: No, It Has Not
Well, his dream was just a dream. although we have ended REAL racism in America, there will always be some racists. at least now we have it in full spectrum. everyone's discriminated against in some way, so in reality, it is complete equality. as for Obama becoming president... i really never found it a big deal. what, cause he's black that must mean it's good? The fact that he's progressing towards evil doesn't really make me think that i should like him just cause he's black. but that's cause race isn't an issue for me like it is for so many others. people have to think that it's such a big deal that we have a black president (which is why he got 99% of the African American vote, not on policy, but on race, disgusting if you ask me). we should be color blind when it comes to being serious, but we're not. I ignored the fact that Obama was black, but people seemed to be so determined into having "the first black president" that race played a major role. and the racists just voted for the national socialist workers party (as usual), so it didn't hurt Obama at all. So, no, King didn't get shit out of this. just the exact opposite. We continue to judge based on the color of their skin and not on the content of their character (which is why Affirmative Action is still big, biggest racist action by the government). Side: No, It Has Not
|
