March On Washington + 50 Years

A Osprey military helicopter flies by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington on Tuesday. Barack Obama, who will speak, was 2 years old and growing up in Hawaii when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Fifty years later, the nation’s first black president will stand as the most high-profile example of the racial progress King espoused, delivering remarks at a nationwide commemoration of the 1963 demonstration for jobs, economic justice and racial equality. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last.” I was not yet 4 when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke those words. It has been 50 years. So much has changed. And yet… I am not a little girl. I don’t live behind two sets of railroad tracks in the poor black section of town. But I’m still a mediator. I’m still an optimist. I still believe in sharing. I still love the garden. So I guess there’s still a little bit of that little girl in me. Our country has changed. It seems almost superfluous to list the progress we’ve made when it comes to integration and equality. And yet… There are incidents — events — tone-deaf statements that serve as constant reminders of the inequalities and injustices we must still struggle with. These are often overlooked, or misread, or used as “red meat” to stir strong partisans with fear and loathing/Donna Brazile, CNN. More here.

Question: How much of Martin Luther King’s dream has come true?