ON January 15, we once again celebrated the birthday of one of our most distinguished heroes, Martin Luther King Jnr.
I was going over his, ‘I Have A Dream’ speech and one thing that rings true to me today as it did those decades ago is that America has not changed much in terms of race relations.
If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, he would undoubtedly be saddened by the crisis of police brutality consuming America.
He would mourn the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York, the death of Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, and the loss of countless other black lives at the hands of the police.
He would not be shocked by these events as much as he would be shocked at how little progress America has made in reckoning with the vast political and economic problems that he felt underpinned and gave rise to its compulsive violence against black America.
Decades after his death, extreme poverty, soaring economic inequality and perpetual war are either unaddressed or worse than during his life.
These issues were key to King’s radical outlook on the roots of racial progress.
If Martin Luther King was alive today what would he see and how would he react to the fact that:
l There are more students attending segregated schools in America today than in 1954.
l The dropout rate in high schools located in lower-income neighbourhoods is near 50 percent.
l Countless thousands of unemployable, semi-literate youth are being pushed out of our inefficient high schools.
l The dropout rate in many community colleges nationwide is over 90 percent for black males and over 70 percent for black females.
l The unemployment rate on some Indian reservations and inner-city neighbourhoods is over 75 percent.
l There are now over two million people in prison, mainly because of an ill-conceived ‘War on Drugs’ and its imprisonment of a generation of under-educated, poor and mainly non-white youth drug users.
l America’s costly and needless invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.
He would be shocked and depressed at the US$40 000-US$60 000 being offered to the youth of today to fight and die in these wars.
He would be accused of treason for his pacifism, and threatened with aiding terrorists and arrested under the new Draconian Homeland Security laws.
What would have been Dr King’s reaction to the US$7 billion bailout to the banks, car companies, and insurance companies?
Perhaps he would organise demonstrations for the 42 million people without health insurance.
Or the 16 million unemployed.
Or the millions of overeducated, underemployed professionals.
Or the hundreds of thousands of college students who are being burdened for decades with US$30 000 to US$300 000 student loans that have replaced grants and scholarships.
What would he say of a relationship between the collapse of the worldwide economy and the increase in profits of the oil companies and corporate executives?
How much would Dr King support or oppose the military policies of President Obama? Indeed, would Dr King be a frequent guest at the White House?
What would he say to Congress about the 662 military bases abroad?
Today, the traditional civil rights organisations seem more concerned about political correctness than getting out and fighting to help the poor and the hopeless, regardless of their ethnicity or colour.
Dr King would be greatly challenged today to ignite the passion of indignation and concern that he awakened 40 years ago.
Would he succeed?
Would love and nonviolence triumph again over greed and ignorance?
African-Americans are the only ones who can answer these questions.
They always have a choice on which road to follow.
They have to stand up, acknowledge and practise their beliefs, because their continued silence will only see more and more of their children dying on the streets at the hands of the police, others spending more than half their lives in prison, and a bleak future as their children remain at the edge of society as they are uneducated.