Another year of pausing to reflect on, remember, and recommit ourselves to the dreamer’s dream.
Born January of 1929, if he were with us today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be 96 years young. I recently celebrated the homegoing of a community servant who lived to be 101! So, 96 for Dr. King seems possible as well.
So what would the dreamer say about today and its alignment with his dream?
We are left to speculate and draw our own conclusions because the dreamer only lived to see 39 years. He was shot down by a bullet that was fueled by the very hate that he fought against.
His family and friends lost him on that day. The forward movement toward the realization of justice lost him on that day. In many ways we have remained in a perpetual cycle of grief, generation after generation, soothed by the very gradualism that he warned us not to be tranquilized by.
I dare say that the dreamer would not be satisfied with our current state. I dare say that the dreamer would be sickened by the mental models that continue to sustain the social caste system where there are people who are deemed worthy and those deemed worthless.
I offer that the dreamer would be appalled by the lip service to deliver justice and the delays that continue to deny the same people and groups. I suggest that the dreamer would acknowledge some progress, but would not be pulled into resting because there is still too much left undone.
The dreamer would be perplexed and frustrated by the ongoing opposition to freed people living free.
The dreamer would in no way say that his dream has come true and would admonish us to press even more, without apologizing, for full realization.
Still we fight to be seen, heard, and to have our humanity honored as equal to all neighbors.
Still, we seek justice and the fulfillment of the on-paper-promises of this nation.
Still, we are judged by the color of our skin and not the content of our character.
Still, our schools fail to deliver an education that cultivates intelligence and character.
Still, our neighborhoods are the least resourced, highest policed, and gentrified at a pace that satisfies the appetites of the privileged and the profiteers.
Still, the dream continues to be deferred, justice continues to be delayed, and people are disenfranchised by design.
I imagine that the dreamer would tell us to dream anew. He would tell us to seize today to send a message to our tomorrows that we are ready.
We are ready to secure all that from our birth belongs to us.
We are ready to set right all that has been wrong.
We are ready to move from the valley of perpetual despair to the summit of our permanent hopes.
We will continue to press for all that should have been. We will boldly do justice and continue to build the beloved community with our neighbors both near, far, and newly arrived.
The dreamer would say we aren’t there yet, and that we must push to reach what remains elusive. There are new dreams to be dreamed. Justice to be done. We are the ones alive for these moments.
For the dreamer who lost his life, and for the dreamers who yet want to live their lives, we will make it so.
We honor the dreamer. We dream anew.
