The opinion I am about to express will enrage many on all sides. I respect your right to disagree with my conclusions, but also ask that you make sure you have really considered why, and that your own disagreement is rooted in facts and solutions. If it is, I welcome the open and honest debate, because that is the only way we will ever change the things that most need changing.
In a little over 24 hours, this nation will have a new leader in charge. When Barack Obama takes the oath of office to become our 44th president, history will be made. It is impossible for me, on the day dedicated to celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., to ignore the symbolism and ironies involved in the inauguration to come tomorrow. As I sit here thinking about it all this morning, I really do have to wonder, did King really believe in his own dream that he sold to his followers, and in time, most of this nation?
Barack Obama will make his vow to protect and defend this nation on the steps of a building that was built by slaves. He and his family will take up residence in the White House, where just a few years ago the only black residents were servants of a master they could never have imagined would share the color of their skin. When King inspired his audience with his dream about seeing the mountaintop, I find it hard to imagine that he truly thought it would happen so soon, and that so many white people, especially our youth, would be there to help make it happen.
The legacy of King, a man imperfect as all humans are, has on occasion been sullied by his human foibles and failings. Everything from infidelity to plagiarism have been bandied about, and his own children are now in court fighting each other over the record that their parents have left behind. But in the final analysis, his contribution can not be tarnished, because without his dream, and his actions that backed it up, tomorrow would not have arrived so soon. And speaking as the parent of two children of mixed races, I am happy to know that they are now seeing a man much like themselves achieve what would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago, and their dreams will not be limited by something that is only skin deep.
So I have to ask myself - how are we honoring the legacy of a man who espoused hard work, education, and dedication to a cause, a cause for which he was willing, and ultimately did, give his life, by taking the day off to sleep late, eat out, watch bad television or go to the mall? Instead of having our children in school learning about the civil rights movement led by King, they are out of school, doing little of value, and not thinking about what this day means at all.
There are a few celebrations, of course, scattered around town. The talking heads on the local and national news are mentioning it, especially in light of the inauguration tomorrow. The symbolism is inescapable, and I think most Americans, from the whole rainbow of ethnic backgrounds, feel a certain amount of satisfaction, if not pride, in the fact that being half African-American was not an impediment to the election of Barack Obama. Some would say the very fact that a mixed race man from Hawaii, born to a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, raised largely by white grandparents, and married to an African-American woman, is evidence that the dream has been accomplished, and there is nothing more to do.
I would disagree. In fact, I will step gingerly out onto a very delicate limb, to state what I think is inescapably obvious, if unpopular and politically incorrect to mention. One of the biggest challenges we face in this country today is the failure of the African-American community, and by extension, all of us, to raise successful men. When there are more young black men in jail than in college, we cannot escape the recognition that a failure of epic proportions is in progress. While some in the African-American community are satisfied to blame the past, or racism, and too many in the white community are quick to lay the blame in stereotypical form, I think the reasons are irrelevant.
No matter what the cause, the crisis is in the present, and the future is dependent on solutions that must be put into place right now. I believe the primary failure is systemic, and it is the African-American community that must save itself now. Whatever the cause, whatever the background, whatever history has or has not done, the time is too short and the need too urgent, to waste time worrying about whose fault it is, or what has or hasn't been done to fix it. They cannot look to anyone else to provide the solutions, because too few who need the help will listen to anyone, much less someone outside their own community. The isolation that seems to be felt by the most disenfranchised is the very thing that keeps them from recognizing or embracing the experience that has lifted others out of poverty, and put them on the path to success.
The past is dismissed as out of touch and out of date, but too few examples in the present seem to resonate with them to show the way, either. When Bill Cosby talks about responsibility, they excoriate him for speaking his mind. For every Oprah Winfrey that speaks of the road to success, they embrace another artist who espouses violence as the solution to their conflicts. When they feel nothing but hopelessness, and jail seems inevitable, there is no incentive to try for something more.
They lack role models who believe that to achieve, you must stay in school, put your nose to the grindstone and get an education. Too few people are telling them that without that education, they will be limited in the opportunities to get a good job. Without the financial stability of secure employment, there is no incentive to be responsible for your family, and give back to those less fortunate than yourself. The cycle of poverty is not just laziness, as the cynical would have us believe. It is an epidemic of failure, systemwide, but whose eradication must begin in the home, and extend throughout the community.
There is no quick fix to poverty - it is a way of life, no matter what your color or ethnic background. For the African-American community, unless they embrace solutions, and soon, they will find that they have exchanged the shackles of slavery for the shackles of the penitentiary, and it is a dead end street.
There is an irony that was well demonstrated by the show, "The Jeffersons," which I watched when I was young. [Note to Hollywood - it's not only the African-American community that watches the so called African-American shows. Fresh Prince of Bel Air has a following of kids of every hue, and Will Smith is an actor that appeals to people in every economic and racial class. I was a rural farm kid in Minnesota, and still managed to open my mind to The Jeffersons. Kids want to experience different things, and they don't really care what color of skin they are watching.]
The whole premise of The Jeffersons revolved around the move of the Jeffersons from the working class neighborhood of Archie Bunker to the high end penthouse world inhabited by the wealthy and successful. This comedy show was a parody of the wealthy, in many ways, and came complete with the newly successful black family hiring a black maid. I think that was a more revealing statement than was probably intended - the single most important symbol of their success seemed to be the black maid they could afford to hire, who ultimately bossed them around.
In the real world, money brings privilege, and the first privilege it usually brings is a move to a better neighborhood. The problem comes when there is no backward glance, no support of those still there, no leadership on how to make that leap. If you have been successful, you must go back and help others, you must show the roadmap for success, you must push and prod and manhandle, if necessary, in order to bring more people with you.
Barack Obama was never a part of the ghetto culture in America. Although he has lived a variety of experiences, he has less in common with an African-American in the slums of Chicago than he does with suburban parents in most major cities. But Obama made a choice a long time ago to take his education and his knowledge and his experiences, and spend some time in the darkness, live the life, walk the walk, and try to make a difference in the community where hope is fragile and education is scorned. That he has gone beyond that life, and is now experiencing the mountaintop, should be embraced and lauded, not only for his personal achievement, but for the role model he is providing.
While some have criticized him for not enrolling his children in the DC public schools, I would have been disappointed in him if he had. He values education, and if he doesn't value success for his own children, then how can I imagine he will value it for mine? His children have a rare example in their own home - a two parent family that, from all appearances, are loving and caring and supportive of each other. He has criticized the culture of hate and violence and irresponsibility that pervades the inner city, and he has called each American to begin with themselves to make the changes needed to make this country a better place for everyone.
As we stand on the threshold of history, it is fitting that the day before the inauguration would be a day dedicated to the celebration of The Dream. I hope and pray that Barack Obama will provide a new voice and new leadership, not only in the African-American community, to be sure, but especially there. I hope his example of education, service, hard work, and a little bit of luck, is one which will show all of our nation's children the path to a better land, one with the promise of a future, and the fulfillment of the dreams of every one of us for our future generations.
If he succeeds in that, he will be able to look back at his place in history and know he has made a contribution worth honoring. Martin Luther King, Jr. would expect nothing more, and the people of this nation deserve nothing less. Barack Obama is the exemplar of the American dream come to life - in his death, King was the martyr that made it possible.
No matter which side of the political spectrum you fall into, celebrate today the living dream of our founding fathers - a country where any child, no matter what their circumstances, can dare to dream, and have it come true.
