Martin Luther King's dream of full equality of all Americans, white or black or brown or whatever color they are, has been twisted by the spirit of selfishness, greed and hate. From the era of dreaming a righteous change that King pursued until his death, we have reached the era of agendas.
Today's agendas are self-serving acts of personal gratification and elevation, to achieve a seat at the table of prosperity by turning in the coat of self-respect. To have a taste of the sweetness of power at the expense of self-respect. Our cynicism grew to where we idolized anti-heroes against those we perceived to be our leaders, despite knowing what they did was wrong. The cynicism is so rampant today that to find a leader for selfless, righteous change is like finding a single needle in a haystack the size of a football field.
You may ask, what's the point in all this as to the topic of this diary? I believe that the lack of a true leader in the form of Martin Luther King Jr. is a primary, not the only one, but a primary reason why the movement of resegregation is upon us (emphasis mine):
(T)he percentage of black students attending schools where most students are non-white increased across the US from 66% in 1991 to 73% in the 2003-2004 school year, according to the report by Harvard's Civil Rights Project and released at the weekend.
"The national segregation levels are back at levels of the late 1960s," said Professor Gary Orfield, director of the project and co-author of the report. "We have lost almost all the progress that came from desegregating our urban communities."
While the article goes on to indicate that 3/4ths of heavily segregated schools serve poor children, I think people of color and creed are resegregating out of personal wishes just as much as cultural and economic reasons.
It has been said: never before has there been a more divisive political climate in this country's history since the 1960s. Go back to the highlighted quote above. Bush's "uniter not divider" moniker has been shown to be a big a falsehood in anything he has said or done, and without that leader to guide us, we are left wondering in the wind, clinging on to the only things we know and understand.
Liberals understand liberals; Republicans understand Republicans; poor understand poor; rich understand rich; blacks understand blacks; hispanics understand hispanics; gays and lesbians understand gays and lesbians.
American citizens, as a whole, are clinging to the few things they confidently know or understand, and in doing so, they segregate themselves from others, including even America. Why are blacks and white segregating themselves again in schools? As much as economics have to do with it, it's also likely because the politics of division have become so tiredsome and stressful that the only joy people can get out of life these days is to be around people who are like who they are. You know its true - how many stories have you read about family get-togethers that have been ruined by the injection of politics or the War in Iraq?
It's a tragic distortion of what may have been King's greatest line in his Dream speech, that people "would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Not only has the color judging returned in the skin of Arabs, Muslims, and Asians, as much as blacks, but the character judging is putting a wedge between blacks and whites just as much. "George Bush doesn't care about black people" - as much of a truism that needed to be shouted from the tops of houses - was a line that further wedged the division between blacks and whites today.
Instead of bringing out the best in ourselves to each other to unite us, our leaders today - black, white, Muslim, Christian - bring out the worst in ourselves to divide us even more. With constant threats of domestic, economic and environmental terrorism, we have turned completely from the great scripture in Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 19:19 - "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" - and have been taught to be fearful and have animosity towards your neighbor. All for the sake of pursuing an agenda to serve one's ends and no one elses.
And we inevitably turn towards those who think and look like we do, because under these incredibly hard times, we are just plain tired of it all.
Maybe this is what America needs at the moment. A chance to recoup our spirits and hearts. Hard times are going to come, if they aren't already here. In the times that try man's and woman's souls, I believe Americans are looking to recharge, and as much as we don't like it, resegregation may be the one way. How else to explain that when a majority of Americans, white and black, believe that black & white equality has made great strides from the days of MLK, and yet are joining schools that fit their own color, culture, or political or religious beliefs?
Let's be frank - many strides have been achieved today. But the spirit of division, who is a patriarch of racism, is back after a small lull. We may choose or be forced by our economic standings to segregate ourselves into the communities that are familiar to us, to our hearts, and our souls. But I believe that the many of us who are do not do so out of spite. I believe that a small, but effective, minority want nothing more than to divide us even more, perhaps permanently, for that suits and feeds their own agendas in life. But nevertheless, I believe there is a vast majority who are divided, segregated, and associating with those who are familiar with each other, in customs, culture, wealth, and politics, that do not wish to remain divided forever.
I don't want to remain divided forever, and I believe many here don't want to either. But I also believe that you are like me too - in our comfort zone of the communities we know and the people we understand. I can only ask whatever diety that exists to forgive me for this weakness in my soul and help give me the strength so that it may rise against this tide of divisiveness. For it is my belief, that if this nation, severely tainted by our war for oil in the Middle East, broken by the weight of economic hardship and irresponsibility towards the infrastructure of this nation, and threatened by a willing, consistent, law-breaking executive whose actions, knowingly or unknowingly to him, threaten the very fabric of our democracy, if this nation is to return to its greater glory, than we must somehow unite.
Our Founding Fathers united under one principle - achieve independence from England. Afterwards, division crept in and threatened to tear the newly created nation apart, but in the end, our Founding Fathers did what was right: they once again united. They united despite their differences, despite their prejudices, despite their anger and frustration with their other fellow countrymen, and established the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the United States. Division reared its ugly head again in the Civil War and nearly shattered the Great Experiment, but in the end, the people united and America moved on, with greater freedom for all.
America is resegregating slowly again, and for the time being it may be necessary for the sake of our human souls. But we must awaken soon to the reality that America's survival has constantly been under the guise of unity. A new vision must be constructed, not based on or relied upon Supreme Court decisions, but by righteousness and action. I believe that when all is said and done, and the moment of truth for this nation is at hand, the true character of America will shine and we will tell those, including our leaders, who wish to keep us back, who wish to divide us even more, we will tell them how we feel. Not with a blow to the head, not with a curse from our lips, but from a simple gesture of our hand towards them as if to say, "Stop, you've done quite enough!"