Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Happy Birthday. Listen up, Sir...Priscilla and I have a few comments

When I saw this article, (the article, below, is all in black letters versus our comments in red and blue) I thought it might be something to post for today, Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday anniversary. It's not the typical glowing homage, that's for sure. But, I thought the author of the piece, Deepthi Hajela, had taken liberties with Dr. King and how he might feel today and I asked Priscilla to help me comment regarding the points made here and her take on what seems to be more truthful from our viewpoints. I hope that, as you read, you will think of ways to comment and contribute your thoughts. Thanks.

NEW YORK – The focus of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 wasn't what had been accomplished — but rather his view of what still needed to be done.

More than four decades later, King scholars say he would take the same approach at this historic moment — the inauguration of the first black president at a time when the nation is facing its greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The crisis could widen the already large financial gaps between whites and blacks and make it more difficult to attain King's dream of economic equality in America.

P: Economic equality will be attained when those who desire it approach their endeavors without believing they are victims.

Z: I wonder if the times haven't changed enough that Dr. King obviously saw difficulties for Black Americans then and, today, would feel we've come past that enough to totally agree with Priscilla, above. I think so. I hope so.

"I believe that Dr. King would caution us not to rest on the election of a black president and say our work here is done," said Kendra King, associate professor of politics at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.

P: I think it's possible that today, Reverend King would be sad that his people have listened to the likes of Jesse Jackson as if they need someone to lead them. They don't. It is within themselves as it is within us all.

Z: has anybody in their right mind thought that the election of this president has meant our work is done in ANY capacity, racist or anything else?

Although King is best known for his civil rights work, he was a staunch advocate for economic justice. In the months before he was killed, he had been working on the Poor People's Campaign and calling for an economic bill of rights. When he was assassinated in 1968, he was in Memphis supporting a sanitation workers'
strike.

P: We need no economic bill of rights. We have all the rights we need. We need only accept that the journey isn’t easy and requires sacrifice, persistence, and hard work. It is the same for all regardless of skin color.

"Economic empowerment and justice was always a part of Dr. King's purpose,"
professor King said. "Civil rights without economic parity is still imprisonment."

P:The individual’s worst jailer is himself. If one is taught he is oppressed he tends to believe it. Blame his teachers. Those who school him in needing a hand up, are his worst enemy. what he needs is, forward thinking and confidence.

While the election of Barack Obama is a huge step toward King's dream of a time when people are judged on the content of their character and not their skin color, economic data shows racial disparities are still pervasive when it comes to financial equality.

Z: But, were Obama ALL white, would he have even been considered a viable candidate? I think even honest liberals would agree the answer is a resounding NO even WITH the Chicago mechine, Soros, ACORN and the like behind him.

From unemployment rates to wages to household income to home ownership rates, the differences are stark. For example, while white unemployment was at 6.6 percent in December, black unemployment was 11.9 percent. For black men, it was even higher, at 13.4 percent.

P: It serves no positive purpose to compare races. It accomplishes nothing but polarization. It also provides politicians more power as they can promise “change” and dependency on the government for generations.

Z: Is this a point dependent on COLOR or on self-reliance, hard work, and sacrifice?

Going beyond those simple statistics, studies show that economic mobility and the passage of wealth from one generation to another is more of a reality for whites than it is for blacks.
A report from the Economic Mobility Project that looked at income data over time found that black children were less likely than their white counterparts to earn more than their parents did. And being born to middle-class parents did not offer the same protections to black children as it did to whites. Among children whose parents were in the middle of the income scale, 45 percent of black children fell to the bottom of the income scale as adults, while only 16 percent of whites did.

P: If this is true, these are issues within the black community that only they can confront.

Z: the implication being Whites have held Black Americans back? HOW? ALL of them? What about Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell, Bill Cosby, Dr. Alvin Toussant, Jesse Peterson, Cornell Wilde, Walt Williams, Justice Clarence Thomas, etc...............Barack Obama. What did these people have that didn't keep them down?

"Many more blacks experience poverty, many fewer experience affluence," said Mark Rank, a professor of social work at Washington University who studies poverty and economic inequality.
And in tough economic times like these, people who are more vulnerable have more to lose, said Charles Gallagher, professor of sociology at La Salle University in Philadelphia.

P:In times like this we all have more to lose. It’s not as if only black people struggle. There is no favored victim of hard times.

"The black middle class is precarious compared to the white middle class," he said.

Z: I'm thinking things are pretty darned precarious for everyone these days.

"I think it will have some long-lasting effects," Rank said of the current economic woes. "It's taken a long while to reduce some of those racial differences so this is just going to set that back."

P: This makes no sense, and I simply don’t believe it. It does come from a sociology professor does it not?

Z: Somebody tell that man WE ARE ALL SUFFERING. Maybe it'll cheer him up!

Fritz Jean, a 26-year-old college student and retail employee in New York City, has firsthand experience with economic disparity. The new father wants better for Quincy Zachariah Jean, born earlier this month; better than the schools he feels didn't prepare him for college the way his suburban white counterparts at the State University of New York's College at Old Westbury seem to be; better than living in the small apartment he grew up in that he now shares with his mother and girlfriend.

P: Well, Fritz should have foregone having a child until he was out of college, and on his way. This is a perfect example of making an irresponsible choice. He just made his road and his child’s road harder.

Z: Maybe marriage might help him, his girlfriend and his little boy. Bad choices aren't a race thing. Bad choices are DEFINITELY "equal opportunity", sadly.

"You want to own property, you want to have something to leave for your family, but you have to get that and to get that is already an uphill battle," he said.
He commutes up to four hours a day to school, trips that eat into the money he earns and take away from the hours he could work. He can't afford to take on the unpaid internships that other, more affluent students can, internships that make a difference in getting a job in radio, his career choice.

P: My own grandson (20) works part time, and takes 16 units in college. His job is not in the area he wishes to pursue when he graduates. Fritz’s doesn’t have to be either. Race has nothing to do with it.

Z: Mr. Jean, you don't even want to make a family by committing to the mother of your child! Could this attitude color all your choices and indecision and unhappiness?

"I do want to pay my dues, but I need to be able to pay my bills," he said.
The tough economic times are adding to his worries. "My concern is making sure I get out of school and can find a job. It's really hard ... when you know that last year alone so many jobs were lost," he said.

"I don't know what's going to happen," he said. "Me taking all these loans, I could still end up working at Ikea."

P: Yes, it is really hard. It usually is. Being an adult requires choices and decisions that are hard, but it can be done, and has been done by millions of people before now, and will be in the future. No one can give you success. You have to earn it. Regardless of who you are or what you choose in your life. Victimhood will only hold you back. Confidence will propel you forward.

Z: Dr. King, we as Americans should apologize to you. Some of us have allowed every problem these days to be blamed on racism instead of going past that and figuring out what else could cause the problems. We are proud of so many Black Americans and you'd be so proud, too. But, there's a prevailing feeling that Blacks aren't making it because the opportunity is not there yet. It IS there, sir, and we hope for another man like you to come along without a chip on his shoulders about White Americans and encourage Black Americans (I refuse to say "the Black Community" because we are the AMERICAN COMMUNITY) to do well in school, get good jobs, SUCCEED! We WANT all Americans to succeed! ALL American families need to encourage our children to be better disciplined, better educated, less blame-oriented. I believe you'd be behind that. I hope so.

Happy Birthday, Dr. King. You left us too early. If you're looking down on Tuesday at the inauguration, and I hope you are, do me a favor. If you have much clout, could you encourage this new president to tell the whole American community that ANYBODY can make it, we just need to work hard. Get his ideas of hand-outs instead of hand-ups out of his psyche and let him rely on the good advice of the man he seems to admire so much, President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was big on self-reliance, not big government (If Abe's up there with you, get him to help you, okay?) (Thanks, Priscilla........I knew you'd have good input.)

z