I Have A Dream, 2020

The late great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's most famous quote:

"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."

-- one that he made almost 60 years ago. Was spoken at a time that was different than ours today.

This photo is the last official portrait of the entire King family. From left, Dexter King, Yolanda King, MLK Jr., Bernice King, Coretta Scott King & Martin Luther King III. Taken in the study of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, 1966. (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution file photo)

Then And Now

This is among the last photos of the four children of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. together. From left, Dexter King, Rev. Bernice King, Yolanda King (died in 2007) & Martin Luther King III. Taken in Atlanta, Georgia, 2006.

Different But Not That Different

The 1960s is now different from 2020, but not to the extent that MLK have dreamed about.

There are still a lot of ground to cover to realize his dream. But it is also not hard to see that today, our society sometimes and with good intentions, have bent over backwards, and have favorably put emphasis on people by the color of their skin instead of their character.

Now this is not bad, but doing so is not what MLK was referring to in his often quoted or misquoted quote. People shouldn't be afforded benefits because of their color. But rather people should, despite of it.

The Race Still To Be Run

The unfortunate reality even today is that believe it or not, people aren't color blind. Even blind people who can hear, can "see" color by listening to people's accents and knowing their names.

We all can see color first, because it is external. We see it before we can see character, because it is internal and takes a little while to get to see.

The biased person is the one who does not take the time to get to see it. And only act on what they first see (white, black, brown, red, yellow).

Nonetheless giving in merely because of the color of one's skin or trying to rectify the sins of people long dead is not what MLK would have wanted. Especially for us, moving forward.

Psychology 101

People will pre-judge others because of human psychology and how they are brought up. This is where we need help with.

And enough with saying that we don't see color. We all do. We see Asian. We see Native American. We see Jew. We see Arab. We see Hispanic. We see Black. And we see White. And regardless of what color we are.

We even see size, shape, smell, age, gender, religion, politics, clothes, car and house or the lack of it.

And then we act differently depending on what we see.

Enough with the hypocrisy.

Only by taking the time to sit down, communicate, understand and reason together can we see beyond color and everthing else, and then know each other's character or where they're coming from.

I Have A Dream, 2020

The dream for right now should be that which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have also mentioned in his famous 1963 speech.

"There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as (a Black person) is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality....

No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream....

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.'"

And yes all men, regardless of color, gender and creed.

And justice for right now and not that from the ghosts of long past. Otherwise every tribe, every nation will continue to dig up sins committed by long dead people we have nothing to do with and the people of today will not be able to move forward.



I Have A Dream, 1963

#TheBiasedLife