Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It has been nearly 43 years since his speech at the March on Washington and the Civil Rights Act and the Great Society. It has been 42 years since the Voting Rights Act not to mention nearly 38 years since the Stonewall Riots and yet there is still much inequality in society. All these movements suffered setbacks from the Long Hot Summers Riots, Vietnam, and the AIDS epidemic. The assasinations of Dr. King and both JFK and RFK discouraged many. Today the problems of inequality are even greater. There is still no legislation passed at a federal level that protects GLBT people. There is still segregation among income and race. There are still African Americans and minorities trapped in cycles of violence and poverty. Further multiplying the negative effects of inequality is the AIDS epidemic. AIDS has continued to afflict communities of the most discriminated people in society and yet there is little done to address these critical issues. With continued poverty, homelessness, AIDS, defacto segregation, and discrimination, many are negative. MLK Jr. Day is a nice day off and little else. To many, Dr. King's dream is dead.
Today there is great injustice and inequality not just in the world but right here in the United States and little is done to address it. It seems to me that there is this negative, tired attitude prevalent among many older liberals and moderates even that we tried and we failed. The idea is the Civil Rights Movement and Great Society were idealistic movements and legislation that ultimately failed, we tried, we failed, why bother to care now? There is also the conservative idea, very prominent among the young conservatives that inequality and injustice are good things and that those who try to fight it are wackos and are treasonous. Look no further than downright awful people like Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Ann Coulter who promote attacks against feminists, minority activists, liberals, and GLBT people. Essentially if you're not some rich straight Christian white boy, you're nothing. And don't you dare complain about it either. Lest you be labeled a wacko or a nut job or even worse, a liberal. Gasp!
In spite of all of this, I feel hopeful for the future. Several recently elected political leaders are making me realize that one day we may live to see full equality. Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the House in a historic moment on January 4th of this year. To me, she is a breath of fresh air. I can't say enough about what a fan I am of hers. Pelosi represents everything that conservatives hate. Considering that the only two presidents ever produced by California are Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, I feel happy knowing that the first Speaker of the House is Pelosi, a liberal Democrat. Her ascension as Speaker of the House was a great moment for women's equality in this country (even as it went unnoticed). She indeed did break through the marble barrier and she's already showing her great political skill by passing great legislation. But Nancy Pelosi will not solve all of our problems. In fact I'm not sure she'll really be able to get much done besides the basics (the 100 hours thus far). Truly bringing equality to people, fixing social injustice and economic disparity will not occcur in one single election. Ultimately it will be up to others of our generation to make changes for the better. But without hope and without a drive to fix the evils of society, we will never succeed. If Pelosi had simply beleived that no woman could ever become Speaker of the House and that the Democrats could never control Congress, she would not be where she is today.
Jeff Greenfield, a supposedly liberal journalist at CNN, is a reminder of the work we have to do. He says that Barack Obama can't win because he's black, his first name rhymes with Iraq, his last name rhymes with Osama, his middle name is Hussein, and his dress style is somewhat similar to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Greenfield is unfortunately not alone. I was talking to this lady who works in my apartment building, a black mother of two, who told me that Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama will not become president. Why? Because according to her, no African American and no woman will ever be elected. I have to wonder what she would tell her two boys if they ever said that one day they wanted to grow up and be president. There are other barriers as well. Besides one's skin color, there are barriers with ethnic background, geographic location (look at poor John Kerry), religion, and gender, and even heightism. I remember in late 2003 and early 2004 when people told me that Howard Dean (an average 5'8) was too short to become president. John Kerry (a towering 6'5) was tall enough but was from Massachussetts and apparently people from Massachusetts are not allowed to become president. You'd think that people would learn to just accept each other's differences but that remains an elusive goal.
I want to echo Dr. King's words today. My dream is that one day we will live in a society free of AIDS, poverty, homelessness, prejudice, discrimination, and barriers against people. We'll live in a society where we really judge people by the content of their character.One day anyone will be able to grow up to be president. And it will not matter what their skin color is, what gender they are, what their sexuality is, what their religion is, or how tall they are. One day we'll live in communities free of poverty and homelessness. Making these dreams reality does not happen over night. But I feel confident that one day we will live in a discrimination free society. There was a time when African Americans did not have any rights in this country, when women had no rights and could not vote, when homosexuality was criminal (it still was in 13 states until Lawrence vs. Texas), when there was dejure segregation, when farm laborers had no rights, when women did not have a right to choose. But we overcame then and we'll continue to overcome in the future. I think what is important is that we never lose sight of our dreams and goals. It is important that we never give up and that we never allow ourselves to get tired and discourage. Otherwise we'll never succeed at our goals. I hope that this was an enjoyable Martin Luther King Jr. Day for everyone.