More times than not, standing up for your convictions can be one of the scariest moments in a person’s life; especially if those convictions aren’t the most popular. There comes a time when one just needs to bite the bullet and tell it like it is; which is a huge part of my own personality, and with this wonderful Politically Correct world we live in, my forthrightness has come back to bite me in the ass a few times.
Today, we reflect back on Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech, I Have A Dream. It seems that we had made so much progress in regards to racism and oppression since he stood at the podium during the March on Washington for jobs and freedom, in which he called for civil and economic rights, and an end to racism on August 28, 1963; how fitting it was too, that he delivered those words with such emotion on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Obviously there has been great improvement in regards to the civil and economic rights due to corporations using diversity and inclusion. But sadly, when it comes to racism, I feel as though we have done the “one step forward; two steps back” dance, and not just with the same old racism, but now we’re constantly fighting the growing issue of reverse racism as well; which has become this never ending cesspool of hate.
If we are at all honest with ourselves, we must admit that we took the racism too far in the other direction; which has led to the reverse racism. We can never rewrite history, but we still very much seem to want to make each other pay for the sins of generations past, and in doing so, we have lost complete control of how this should be handled to the point where all sense of what’s right and wrong has been lost.
In regards to one standing up for their convictions in a very hostile time, Dr. King is one of those men who have my respect. He was well aware of the violence of his time and what could happen to him and his family if he pushed too far, but he stood tall and damn the consequences. Unfortunately he lost his life, but he certainly put his mark on history, which has changed many lives in a positive light, and it was what he had set out to do.
In looking back, I doubt that Dr. King would’ve approved of the reverse racism any more than he did with the racism against his “brothers and sisters”. The trouble is that, in trying to correct one issue; we ended up with another. Instead of being on one side of the racism or the reverse racism, I prefer to be on the side of Peace for the entire Human Race.
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