When will we overcome?

Yesterday was the day the American Government appointed for us to celebrate Martin Luther Kings’ birthday. His birthday was on the 15^th of January, he would have been 82 if he hadn’t died in 1968.

It was heartwarming to see people of all races and nationalities pay respect and praise the work of our beloved Dr. King, who was a true humanitarian and a sincere ambassador of peace. A man who had a dream, who in his wildest night mare could never imagine the horrors America has become.

Dr. King with many black Americans marched and were imprisoned fighting for equality for all people in America.  He and loyal supporters, were tired of the injustice endured, by black Americans since slavery. They were subjected to police beatings, dog attacks and the masked Klansmen riding in the night killing men, women and children for such crimes as looking at white women, drinking from white only water fountains, speaking out of turn to a white person. Things that today we take for granted.

There were blacks who didn’t march, who accepted their fate as ‘Negros/colored people’ and others who did not believe in Kings’ nonviolent philosophy. There were hustlers, drug dealers and gangs.  There were fights, killings and disrespect in our communities, but one thing for sure they came together to fight prejudice, to obtain equality and the privileges of the constitution.

We had and still have some of the fighters of justice, like the Nation of Islam, the Black Panthers and the preachers, Father Divine, Reverend Ike and Noble Drew Ali to name a few.  They spoke to the masses fighting for each of us, a fight still being fought today. Thank you Al Sharpton and the others voices that aren't as loud..

Black folks are in every walk of life today, doctors, lawyers, politicians, athletes, musicians and business men.  I am proud, just like James Brown said, “I’m black and I’m proud.”  Yes, black, not African American.  I was born here, in America; I cannot trace my ancestry back to Africa.  My mothers’ family says we were part Indians; my father side came from Spain. But me I was born and raised here in the good old United States of America, that makes me American.  To classify me further I am a black American. It’s all I know.  We don’t say European American, do we? Why can’t we all who were born here just be Americans?

With all the accomplishments we have obtained in the last fifty years. A black president, he’s African American, he may not be a descendant of slaves, but I’m sure he has a cousin that were. Yet he is our first black president, does this mean we have over came? I don’t think we have.

Dr. King had a dream that little black boys and girls will hold the hands of little white boys and girls. Yes that part of his dream came true; they marry today and have mixed children, like we weren’t mixed before. But he didn’t see the nightmare.  He didn’t see little black boys and girls killing each other over sneakers, a word considered disrespectful. He didn’t see us stealing from each other, selling each other out. The sad thing is we think it’s’ normal.  We’ve always made songs of our environments, during slavery, during Jim Crow, during the civil rights movement. So those who blame rap for the mind set of our children need to reevaluate that thought. Our kids are shouting about the plight they face today.

We are so busy trying to live up to the Trumps’, Oprah's’ and Jay-Zs’ that we neglect our education.  We fail to give our children values, the ones our parents instilled in us.  It use to be on Friday night, Saturday night we drink, get high and cut up. But Sunday morning we went to church and bow down on our knees and prayed the Lord forgive us, we asked for guidance and strengthen. Then worked all week to pay the rent, put food on the table and clothes on our backs.

Today we get high everyday of the week. Smoking weed, crack, PCP, ecstasy and whatever else we can use to get a cheap escape from reality.  We spend our rent, food and clothing money on a get high. Then yell at our children for being children. They get in our way so we give them to the streets and cry when they get killed or locked up.

Dr. King would cry if he saw the horrors of today. Strippers, drug dealers, bank robbers, child molesters, those who rape and kill. We do it to ourselves and cry foul when innocent people like Sean Bell http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/.../sean_bell/index.html and Amadou Diallo http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/.../d/amadou_diallo/index.html get shot by the police 50-40 times.  I’m not saying its right but this is the image we portray.  We need to clean up our own trash so we can be the dream that the Great Dr. Martin Luther King foreseen. Having a black man in the white house is progress, black millionaires, billionaires is great.  But what about the little babies born in the ghetto, to a strung out mother, absent fathers.  What kind of dream does he have?

Yesterday we celebrated D. Kings’ birthday and today another black person will be killed by the hands of a black person. We came together to vote for the first black president.  We marched for the million men march and the million family march.  That’s fine and good but marching doesn’t get things done. We need to teach our children to respect life and understand the struggles of Americans throughout history.  We need to realize it’s takes a ghetto to raise a community and become a better class of people. A people who love one another and help each other, be the best we can be. Our children must realize that although we’ve come a long way, there are still prejudices in this country and we need to hear Rodney King, who was beating by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1991, asked the world, “Can’t we all just get along?”

In the memory of Dr. King, we shall overcome the hatred we reflect on each other.

But then this is just my 2cents and it aint worth a penny.

copyright Kimberly Floria 1/18/2001