A dream unfulfilled

By Dan Clements December 7, 2008

“Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.”
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”
These are a few excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr. speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. August 28, 1963. I was about one and a half years old at the time of this speech. I first read this speech in high school and thought it was one of the most moving speeches I had ever read. Here was a man that wanted nothing more than to be judged on who he was not on what he looked like. We can’t go back and change history, nor should we try to rewrite it. What has happened in our past is what makes us who we are as a nation today. Do I wish that slavery never existed in this country? You bet, but what was done was done and we need to learn from it so we don’t repeat it. It’s a black eye on this nation and I’m thankful for men like Martin Luther King Jr, who had the courage to point out to a nation the injustice that was still going on in the country at that time.
Fast forward to today and the recent presidential election, and from what I have seen and heard from multiple sources, Mr. King’s dream is still unfulfilled. We have a president elect that was not examined on his character, but was looked at with favor because of his skin color. You would be hard pressed to find much of anything the Lamestream media wrote about concerning Barack Obama’s character.
The conservative thinkers, writers and talkers of America examined Obama’s character and found it wanting. From Obama’s associations with radicals in this country, to his campaign’s projecting Obama as the “ONE”, conservatives were putting out the information the country needed to make an informed decision about who Barack Obama is. For the most part conservatives were and still are pointing out Obama’s character and who he is, and for the most part a majority of the country who voted for him has ignored the facts and has been caught up in the euphoria of making history by electing the first black president.
Members of the 60’s civil rights movement should be ashamed of what has happened in this last election. My fear is that they are not. From my reading and understanding of Martin Luther King Jr. this is not what he wanted for his children or any American, no matter their skin color. Mr. King was not, in my estimation, caught up in being part of history or making it. Mr. King was doing what was needed at the time, no matter how unpopular it was. Mr. King saw an injustice in America and sought to make it right. Martin Luther King Jr. was putting forth THE AMERICAN DREAM, FREEDOM, Freedom from racism, freedom from ignorance, freedom from superficial judgments. Mr. King believed that all people are created equal by God, and this equality should be held sacred by all people. God is no respecter of persons, what gives us the right to be.
When we look at those we give consent to govern over us, we need to use the yardstick of the Bible and the U.S. Constitution when examining what kind of person they are. Never judge a book by its cover. Never judge an individual by the color of their skin. Follow Martin Luther King Jr. in his dream “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”


Dan Clements is a member of the Constitution Party and the host of BACK TO BASIC a Christian/political internet talk show. You can listen to Dan live from 10am-12 noon EST. M-F at www.blogtalkradio.com/dan-clements and www.constitutionalwarrior.com