“i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’
i have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
i have a dream that one day even the state of mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
i have a dream that my four little 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.”
tomorrow barack obama will be sworn in as president of the united states of america. tomorrow, for the first time in history, a black man will hold the highest office in our nation. tomorrow part of dr. king’s dream will be realized. i am a white man who was born and raised in the south. i am educated. i am a christian.
and i am dumbfounded by the rhetoric that still exists in my southern home of alabama. today i read the phrase, “america can quit belaboring the civil rights movement now.” i don’t even know what to do with that statement. i cannot even process it fully. is this really where we are? do we really find ourselves in this place?
sometimes i sit and process through what i know about my history. how do i fit into the story of america? i am a twenty-year-old white male from alabama. i was born and raised southern baptist. i was educated in one of the finest public school systems in the southeast. i am enrolled in a prestigious mid-sized university in tennessee. there i am pursuing degrees in music business and religious studies. i am an immigrant. and even though my family immigrated from england and germany so far back i cannot even tell you the year or the generation, i am, like almost every american, an immigrant.
over the last few years i have found myself confronted with issues of poverty, justice, race, gender, preservation of the environment, etc. i have spent time assessing my belief systems and reorganizing my positions on everything from how i like my eggs cooked to what church should look like.
i used to be exceptionally confrontational when someone brought my beliefs into question. i cannot count how many times i slammed a fist onto a lunch table while arguing in middle and high school. that’s not who i am anymore. i don’t like to argue. i don’t like to lambast the beliefs of others. it just isn’t who i am. i can respect just about any belief held by someone. i can respect those who voted for john mccain just as easily as those who voted for barack obama.
i cannot, however, stand idly by when the concept of civil rights is called into question. the fight is not over for social equality. it’s not just about black and white. women still stand a heads length below men in most arenas. latinos are maligned on a level not seen since the early struggles of the 1960s. native americans have never been given proper due in this country.
so do not tell me that the civil rights movement has been belabored.
as to the bible, it speaks of how we were all created in the image of god. that places us all on an equal level in the eyes of god. no matter gender, race, or social class. we are all children of god. and thus we all have rights to equality. but it goes beyond that. look around you. this nation is made up of parts and pieces that make it whole. american culture is as varied as the people who comprise this country.
and for my southern brothers and sisters who are worried about losing your heritage: i will go out on a limb and assure you that black democrats are not trying to take away your antebellum dresses or your camouflage hats.
so while i prefer not to be confrontational, i simply cannot stand silent when ignorance reigns. it violates my very core beliefs and values. the civil rights movement is not over as long as people are told they are less than equal members of our society because of their race, gender, or social class. and i will fight for the equality anyone who is subjugated by our society, whether they are black, white, male, female, straight, gay, etc. everyone counts here.
“and if america is to be a great nation, this must become true.”
-quotations from dr. king’s “i have a dream”-
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