Seriously. How are you sleeping? It’s not easy is it?
In 1968 I turned 11 in June. I have memories of the upheaval going on around the country including my hometown. But the images from then weren’t as ubiquitous as they are today. Everyone has a camera in their pocket and a quick place to post their witnessing of events. Witnessing that often contradicts official statements even before they’re made.
We can’t go back in time to know that if we had the ability to post images in 1968 the way we can today if it would have made any difference. As Rev. Sharpton suggested in his eulogy yesterday referencing Ecclesiastes Chapter 3, Verses 1-8;
1There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Now is the right time. For a multitude of reasons I’m not sure 1968 would have been the right time. When I graduated from high school in 1975 I thought my generation was going to be the transformative generation. Turns out we were more like our parents than we wanted to admit. The generation of today come closer to meeting Dr. Martin Luther King’s Dream;
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
That day is closer than it’s ever been. And like Dr. King I may not live to see us to the promised land, but I too have a dream and it’s his dream.
I may have trouble sleeping due to the images we’re seeing but the disturbances in my sleep are but a small price to know his dream is closer to fruition than it’s ever been.
Friday, Jun 5, 2020 · 2:53:29 PM +00:00
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TexDem
More from Dr. King’s Dream Speech;
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.