How far are we from MLK's dream?
By The Horse
@TheHorse (238280)
Walnut Creek, California
January 18, 2016 3:30pm CST
Martin Luther King was one of my idols as a child. Every MLK Day, I watch his I Have a Dream speech speech and ponder how for we've come, and how far we have to go. There's no more Jim Crow. It's illegal to discriminate based on race. I do often see little black kids and little white kids playing together, not concerned with differences in pigmentation.
But we have a long way to go. A greater percentage of blacks than whites are poor, unemployed, or incarcerated. Many blacks (and many whites) feel they are victims of systemic discrimination. While many black and white adults live and work in harmony in the US, a significant minority still harbor prejudices toward the other.
In what ways do you see progress since MLK's assassination? And it what ways are you reminded that we have a long way to go?
10 people like this
10 responses
@DeborahDiane (40844)
• Laguna Woods, California
19 Jan 16
When I worked in a high school in Irvine, we had no racial majority. While whites made up the largest group, there were almost as many Asians. In addition, there were Blacks and Hispanics. We also had every religion you could imagine. I was so pleased by the diversity and now two of my grandchildren attend that same school. I believe the acceptance of diversity in schools and other organizations is one of the legacies of Martin Luther King. I agree, however, that we still have a long way to go.
3 people like this
@DaddyEvil (174296)
• United States
19 Jan 16
That is quite interesting to me, @DeborahDiane @TheHorse , because we have very few people of other races here where I live. You occasionally see a Hispanic person here who was not born and raised with the rest of us. The same with the other races.
Most Hispanics I have seen my family have known their families for at least two generations... In surrounding communities, I have seen many people of other diversities, but only interact with them in stores or on my job. I don't avoid them, they simply don't go to the same places I go....
I have one nephew who married into our family who is Hispanic, one nephew who is Japanese, one nephew who is Native American and one nephew who is Black. Some of my great nieces and great nephews have the racial characteristics displayed by their father(s), but as far as I know, they are accepted without reservation here... I've never heard any discriminatory remarks (even on the sly) about any of them.
Something interesting happened when my oldest niece married her husband... She brought her husband down from Kansas City, Missouri, to meet her grandfather (my dad). They walked into the house and dad jumped up and more or less pushed them out the front door.... Dad started shouting at my niece not to bring "that kind" into our house again! Her husband has never been back to our city.
The first time she brought her son to a family reunion, dad told her she wasn't related to him anymore. Since he passed, she and her children have been coming to the family reunions, again. They are as welcome as anyone else in our family...
We never did find out what/why dad did that... He told stories about friends of his who were Black, Hispanic and Chinese... Why would he single out the one Black nephew but accept the nephews of other races? He even told people he LIKED the other nephews... (By that, I mean he told people he liked the men my nieces married... but he never even mentioned my oldest niece after she married James... Dad had his quirks, for sure!)
2 people like this
@TheHorse (238280)
• Walnut Creek, California
20 Jan 16
@DaddyEvil Strange that he picked out that one fella for his wrath. Any hypotheses as to why?
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238280)
• Walnut Creek, California
18 Jan 16
Which groups get discriminated against the most? In the US, Jews are victimized the most by "hate crimes" per capita, blacks are the most over-represented among the poor, and Asians are often treated brutally when they open up shops in poor neighborhoods. Interestingly, given events in the Middle East and the rise of ISIS and other terrorist groups, I've seen very little (none, actually) outward "Islamophobia" here.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381904)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Jan 16
@TheHorse We have many more aboriginals in jail than whites. Muslims get a hard time in some areas. Much of the Islamophia is covert; just general conversation about all the negative aspects of having Muslims moving into Australia. Even among our friends, especially Vietnam vets, there is a lot of forwarding of anti-Islam jokes and propaganda.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
18 Jan 16
I was only six when MLK was killed - since then we have seen growing racism in my country
3 people like this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
19 Jan 16
@TheHorse we have a sinister British National Party (BNP) who are very right wing and extremely homophonic, islamaphobic, etc. They have one seat on our government and some local council power
2 people like this
@TheHorse (238280)
• Walnut Creek, California
18 Jan 16
Who are the perps and who are the victims? I remember prejudice against Gypsies and "Turks" the times I've visited Europe. I wasn't in a position to say whether it was justified or not. I didn't see any prejudice against blacks or Jews, even Austria and Germany.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
19 Jan 16
That incarceration rate among black males you mention is a glaring difference. I think that we have a long way to go yet. Incidentally, the city of Flint, Michigan, where scandal over lead contamination of the water supply occurred, is a majority black city, I have read. Also, if the armed occupiers of Malheur National Wildlife Sanctuary were not white, they would have been driven out by force of arms instead of allowed to disrupt and vandalize federal property. White privilege still has great power.
2 people like this
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Jan 16
there are still a lotof b la ck people who are touchy about being bl ack like the nurses aide one nigjht manyyears vback, we both were sent to wo k night shift in a Long Beach m emorial hospital as nurses ades.She immediately info rmed me she was just as good as me and not to lay any discrimination on her. I was completely b wled over as I had no such feelings owards her at all. I told her that much bu she barely spoke to me all the long hours shift. I felt badly that she had been mistreaed b y other nurses aides and nurses but I was nto sure how to handle that. I never did met her again but I wo rked wih people from all races and never had any problems. seems we have a ways o go yet but we are better now than before
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238280)
• Walnut Creek, California
18 Jan 16
It's too bad that she assumed you'd be prejudiced in some way. I've never had exactly that experience, but I've received papers from black students who say they feel vaguely uncomfortable on a mostly white/Latino/Middle Eastern/Asian campus, even though nobody had been mean to them.
1 person likes this
@iamshane487 (1138)
• Manila, Philippines
19 Jan 16
I wish discrimination will stop. Let's take a glimpse of "I Have A Dream" by Martin Luther.
1 person likes this
@Drosophila (16568)
• Ireland
20 Jan 16
We're getting there gradually, I think the next evolution will be for everyone to be on the same thoughts that not all Muslims are terrorists
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@Drosophila (16568)
• Ireland
21 Jan 16
@TheHorse Out in Ireland, even I get accused of being an "immigrant" so.. ya I feel there might be some way to go yet.
@JudyEv (381904)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Jan 16
Skin colour brings out some strange reactions. My SIL bought her Egyptian grand-daughter a black doll with all the best intentions but the little girl had no time for it at all for some years. And when we were in the back blocks of Thailand, all the young girls there wanted to be white. I found it interesting that even dark-skinned people seemed to have a preference for lighter skin.
1 person likes this
