Headline: KEEPING ALIVE KING'S DREAM
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed:  Sun., Jan. 14, 1996
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 4B, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

To MANY, Monday - the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - means little more than a day off.

To others, however, including me, the holiday serves as a reminder of King's vision of America as a land where people would someday be viewed as individuals and not as colors, a place where blacks, whites and others would learn to get along with one another and not be fearful of working, learning or living next to one another. To King, the concept of integration was a positive one in which everyone would benefit.

Today, however, that vision seems to be lost on many.
  
We live in times when people feel insecure. They are uncertain about their jobs. Many fear that they will be the next to be laid off by businesses that want to maximize profits. The reaction, in my view, is similar to that of small children at breakfast who worry that the child next to them somehow got more cereal than they.
  
We also live in an era of impatience. Some whites are impatient with programs designed to help alleviate racism, programs like affirmative action. They argue that the program's been around for 30 years, so racism on the job and in education should be eliminated by now. They don't realize that racism in this country developed over hundreds of years and that it would be extremely optimistic to expect that it could be eliminated in such a short period.
  
On the other hand, some blacks are just as impatient with America. They believe that America is changing at a snail's pace, and some now advocate the opposite of King's dream - segregation. That word isn't used, of course, but it's expressed in a growing interest by blacks in all-black schools, neighborhoods and societies. They, too, have forgotten that racism didn't appear overnight and that it won't disappear overnight either.

The nation's racial thoughts are further complicated by politicians who try to take advantage of racial fear and animosity by telling us that up is down and that day is night. These characters plant seeds of hatred and mistrust in the public by telling us that programs designed to help the poor are hurting them; by taking away such programs and replacing them with nothing, they argue, we will somehow help the poor.
  
In effect, they suggest that we stop feeding the hungry. When they get hungry enough, they'll scrounge for food elsewhere. If we no longer feed the hungry, we're told, this will somehow make them stronger.
  
We're told that we'll somehow reduce racism by getting rid of programs designed to reduce racism. We're told that minorities who might benefit from affirmative action policies are actually hurt by them. We're told that whites who aren't hurt by fair affirmative action programs are hurt badly.
  
Some even have the gall to suggest that King would have supported the elimination of the very civil rights programs that he advocated.

In fact, though, I suspect that King would have been very disenchanted with what's happened in America. While progress has taken place in some arenas, very little has occurred in others.
  
In some ways, America seems to be losing its ability to be compassionate toward the less fortunate among us. It seems to be popular to blame the poor for their poverty; to blame the homeless for their homelessness; to blame those who are discriminated against for their discrimination.
  
King would surely shake his head in disbelief were he to see where America seems to be heading.

Yet King's birthday would seem an opportune time to assess the direction of America as well as to assess ourselves. Are we working, in our own way, to make King's dream of this nation become a reality? Do we even consider that dream a viable one?

For me, the dream remains not only viable but one that sorely needs pursuit. Perhaps more than any other national figure, my own world view was influenced by King. One need not be an eternal optimist to hope that Americans will one day be more comfortable with one another and feel enriched by their knowledge of this country's many cultures. I believe, as did King, that we all stand to benefit in a country that is integrated throughout.
  
With the ever-increasing diversity of America, the need for such integration, understanding and comfort among races is probably more important today than at any other point in our nation's history.
  
King made a difference in this country.
It's up to us - all of us - to see that his dream becomes a reality.

Gregory Freeman's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. ... < deleted >


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