When Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963, African-Americans made up about 10% of the total U.S. population. Today, the percentage is about 12%. It still boils down to about one in ten Americans.
Since the day Dr. King gave his speech, there have been 9 presidents. The tenth will be Barack Obama. One in ten.
- JFK
- LBJ
- Nixon
- Ford
- Carter
- Reagan
- Bush Sr.
- Clinton
- Bush Jr.
- OBAMA
If society were fair, you'd expect one in ten presidents to be black, right, to match the percentage in the population. Dr. King's speech, and the events and changes it inspired, obviously managed to make society at least fair enough to have the tenth out of ten presidents be judged on his character, not on the color of his skin. The dream is real. Statistical proof.
"When we allow freedom to ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics — will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.