Dr. King
Al’s
Loupe Read Spanish Version
Dr.
King’s dream, Obama and the urgency of the moment
By
Alvaro F. Fernandez
alfernandez@the-beach.net
“[…]
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my
friends.
“And
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
today!” […]
—
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
This
Monday, the 19th,
we will celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday. The
following day Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th
president of the United States. It’s an interesting coincidence.
Dr. King would have been proud.
But
in spite of the glory and aside from the historical connotation and
all that this moment represents, I am convinced Dr. King would have
advised President Obama, as he told hundreds of thousands in 1963 in
Washington, D.C. in his “I have a dream” speech, that “It would
be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”
It’s
interesting to also note that most people look back at the “I have
a dream” speech as one of Dr. King’s finest (which it may have
been) while nostalgically focusing on the “dream.” But listen
carefully (which you can in today’s You Tube contribution in
English) and one realizes that it was not a terribly happy Reverend
King speaking that day, but one who was admonishing the powers that
be of the times for, as he said, defaulting on a “promissory note”
and adding, “We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is
bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in
the great vaults of opportunity of this nation…”
Remembering
his words, now almost 45 years told, he would have told President
Obama more: “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind
America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in
the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of
gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy…”
True,
the speech was delivered to a mostly black audience. But had he lived
today, Dr. King would have condemned any mistreatment of people, no
matter the color of their skin or where they came from. He would have
abhorred the treatment — before, during and after — of the victims
of Hurricane Katrina. As he did during his lifetime, he would have
spoken out against a world mired in hatred, violence and war. And
although not surprised, I believe he would have condemned the greed
that led us to the current economic meltdown.
Barack
Obama is no Martin Luther King, Jr., you say. Then again, I counter,
Dr. King was no Barack Obama. What ties them together, though, is
that, like the prophets of biblical times, they arrived at a moment
in history when both were needed desperately. And each, as a leader,
had and has the ability to inspire hope in their followers.
Dr.
King, as we know, inspired a generation of people and helped to
change the world before his too early demise. Barack Obama now
inspires a new generation of Americans to get involved in hopes of
jump starting a stale system by challenging the masses to do
something about it. And as the Dr. King before him, President Obama
must tackle the problems (some think insurmountable) he faces, now as
president, with optimism but without shying away from dealing with
the outrage that must be addressed due to the grave situation we’re
in — and how we got here.
I
know it’s much easier to write about it then to actually do it:
President Obama faces this generation’s mountaintop; one he must
climb and hopefully cross. But like Martin Luther King, Jr. and
others before him, there is something about our next president that
seems to give me hope. Don’t ask me to explain it.
All
I can tell you is that the first time I saw Obama (on TV), when he
spoke before the John Kerry convention in 2004, I called a friend the
following day who laughed at my suggestion when I told him Obama
would be “a good” president one day; I just did not know it would
only be four years later. And for the first time in my life (although
not my first vote for president), I voted gladly and with great
optimism for a president of the United States on Nov 4, 2008.
I
hope I was right because the moment is
urgent.
