Dr. King's Dream Coming True

The dream of Martin Luther King is not yet realized. We do not live in that Promised Land he glimpsed from the mountaintop. What he saw and foresaw with such clarity and passion so many years ago, I couldn't see from where I stood as a young white liberal in the civil rights movement.

I used to perform and emcee fundraisers for Congress of Racial Equality (and briefly for SNCC). I remember being introduced to We Shall Overcome by the late folksinger Odetta. I listened, sang along, and I was moved. But I didn't truly believe that we would overcome sufficiently to elect an African-American president in my lifetime.

We are not yet in a post-racial era. There is still ignorance and prejudice; there is still racism. So, yes, we have not arrived but are arriving. We have not overcome but are overcoming. The dream is not realized, but now too, I finally do believe, deep in my heart, I do believe that we shall overcome some day. I believe that America now stands on that mountaintop with Dr. King and we can see that Promised Land. That dream, his dream, is now our dream. It is up to us to work to make it a reality.
©2009 Jonathan Dobrer
www.Dobrer.org