Progress Report: The Dream

BY:SHAWN JONES

Today marks the 50 year anniversary of Martin Luther King’s iconic, “I Have a Dream” speech.

We cannot deny the progress society has made, to bring his dream to reality. Though we have made great progress, there is more that needs to be done, to make his ideals for this country a permanent standard, and not an abstract concept.

We can physically see the progress in everyday society; we must be reminded of the work that lies ahead of us. Here are some facts you may not know:

• The median household income among blacks in the US is $39,780, whites $67,380
• The current employment rate among blacks is 14 percent, only seven percent for whites.
• Minorities attending college over the past decade have risen over 60 percent.
• 33 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 29 years of age have at least a bachelor degree.
• Approximately 8000 to 9000 African-Americans are murder in the United States annually, 93 percent of those murders are committed by other black people.

There are two statistics that all American should be concern with, the income and unemployment gap among whites and minorities.

It has been projected by 2043; whites will be the minority in the United States. With rising cost of living, the country will face a huge economic crisis, if the majority of the people have a median income under $45,000, and an unemployment rate in the double-digits.  

King’s dream was not just the wish for us to be judge on our character equally, regardless of color, but we all have a right to equal pay, and ability to up lift ourselves from our current environment, through the means god gave us.

If the country does not start to change these two stats by 2043, King’s dream will not be the only thing fallen short of its fulfillment, the United States will come up short on its promise to all of its citizens.

I think, we (as American)  don’t truly understand the visionary King was. For his words were not meant for the African-American community, but a nation of many. We can all do and be better, for this nation to ever reach its greatest promise to its people. We must love, care, and see each other as brothers and sisters, to not see a stranger, but a friend. That we are all, at our core, equal, and only character makes us different.

We will need that sense of togetherness to meet the needs and challenges of the 21^st century. 

(President Obama's speech, on the 50 year anniversary of MLK's Dream)

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