State of Dr. Kings Dream: Another Look!

The question we face today is whether America has the will to address inequality and racism. The racial divide stands in sharp contrast to the legacy of Dr. King, a man who has become the symbol of America’s moral conscience. Utilizing such diverse indicators as income, wealth, homeownership, poverty, unemployment, and infant mortality, this report looks at the gap between the legacy of Dr. King and the America of today. Progress since Dr. King was killed in 1968 has been painfully slow. In education, one finds the most hopeful signs of Blacks achieving equality with whites. African Americans have improved greatly in educational attainment, but these efforts have not been fairly rewarded with the levels of employment and income received by their white counterparts. King’s comment that “the Negro still lives in the basement of the Great Society” is still valid for today. The basement might have been refurnished, but it is still the basement. To change America into a country no longer marked by a racial caste system will require a new commitment to the legacy of a man we commemorate every year. We need to honor him not with platitudes, but with social policy that brings his vision into reality!