Inasmuch as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., first and foremost, was a Baptist preacher of the New Testament Gospel, one must realize that his I Have a Dream speech is best understood from a Black Christian’s perspective. Surely you’ve shouted amen during a fire and brimstone preacher’s scathing sermon. If so, you (like most hypocrites) probably think the sermons target the other sinners in the congregation, rather than you.
In fact, guilt ridden, unrepentant people in denial tend to hear, or remember only what they want to. Accordingly, America’s mass media cleverly diffused MLK’s real message by focusing on his grandiose dream. Even worse, they’ve used the dream to lull brain dead African Americans to sleep.
We Must Understand, as we celebrate what would’ve been Dr. King’s 78th birthday and/or observe the 24th MLK Day as a national holiday, it’s incumbent upon African American News & Issues to set history straight.
In hindsight, Dr. King didn’t mince words when he spoke to the nation’s leaders. For sure, you understand where he was coming from when he said, “In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check.”
And if there was any doubt, whatsoever, who his sermonette targeted, he continued: “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
"It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” Need we waste space explaining where MLK was coming from with that indictment? On the other hand, if one who fails to grasp the concept of a Black perspective is reading this, perhaps we should make it clear that MLK was simply musing when he said, “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.” In essence, MLK was offering America’s leadership a plan of salvation. Yet, there can be no salvation, until the debt is paid.
We Must Understand, descendants of slave owners owe desscendants of slaves a great debt. Thus, the nation’s soul can not be restored until they make reparations (FYI: For many years Rep. John Conyers has persistently pushed HR. 40, which calls for reparations for slavery.)
Truthfully, reparations can’t be taken seriously until the U.S. Congress commit to a formal and sincere apology for enslaving our ancestors. Ergo, that’s why MLK said, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.” Unfortunately, that “one day” won’t come until America covers that insufficient check. Happy Birthday MLK.
