Having a Dream

I'm not with Nathan today. In fact, Jen is home with him because of the holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I've decided to write about Dr. King. Now I know that this topic is different than most of what will be written in this blog. But, hey, it's my blog and I can put whatever I want into it!

I am fascinated by this year's commeration of King's life and how it led to Obama's inaugeration. The dream has not been fully realized for all Americans yet, but Obama's campaign has opened up the reality of opportunities to thousands of people of color who had the options in the past, but did not understand or believe what they could accomplish. How cool is that! Obama hasn't become president yet, but he has affected the lives of countless kids who now perceive the possibilities in their own futures! But Dr. King was the dreamer who believed that the potential now embodied in Obama would happen sooner than most people thought possible.

I've heard people say that blacks have had equality for years now, since the passage of the EEOC which supposedly guarantees equal rights in the workplace. That was theoretically true, but for children growing up in poverty, in neighborhoods with under-performing schools, it was meaningless. Those children didn't see the possibility of jobs for themselves, and didn't see the relevance of a good education. Their own expectations limited their futures. It is one reason why gangs have become so powerful in poor neighborhoods.

Now many of those same kids see the possibility. There are already kids whose school performance is improving. They never lacked the aptitude, but their defeated attitude held them back. Attitude, after all, is more than half the battle.

Dr. King's plan was thought-out and deliberate, and it worked. It did not bring about an instanteous change everywhere, but it planted the idea, the seed, that grew to fruition in Obama and will continue to grow in all the future American children of every color.

Nathan will see the events of this week as ancient history of course. But he will live in a world different than the one his Grandpa and I grew up in, and even different than the one his own parents grew up in. The world he will take for granted will offer more justice and opportunity for everyone.