Issue Position: Civil Rights - Honoring Dr. King's Dream

Issue Position

Every morning as I get dressed, I put on a blue bracelet imprinted with the words "Build The Dream" that I'm quite proud of. I received it after donating to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Fund to build a monument to a personal hero of mine on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. where he marched forty-five years ago.

At the end of the march, he stood and delivered a speech. When the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted "Tell them about the dream, Martin!", he broke away from his prepared text and delivered a set of words that changed the world.

He told us of a dream in which his four children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. He told us that in the dream, the sons of slaves and the sons of slave owners sat down together at the table of brotherhood.

As of this writing, there is a very good chance that we might have our first African-American President of the United States. Despite that possibility, Dr. King's Dream has yet to be fully realized. A child born into a white, middle class neighborhood, statistically speaking, has a better shot at surviving to age one than a child born the same day in the 38108 ZIP code. He'll likely go to a better school, be better prepared for college, and go on to a better job. He'll have better access to medical care, better access to the commercial banking system, and streets that are safer to walk on at night.

We can accept that, or we can fight it. I never have to ask what Dr. King would have done. His all too brief life was about overthrowing one status quo after another.

He gave his life for that mission right here in Memphis. Memphians live in the shadow of the Lorraine Motel, and much of our lives are defined by what happened on that horrible evening forty years ago.

So every day, I look down at that blue wristband. And every day, I resolve to continue the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Join me so that we may work together to make Dr. King's Dream come true.

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