Day 55: Would Dr. King be Proud or Would He Still be Hard at Work?

Today is the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. day. MLK is only the second U.S. citizen to have a national holiday named after him.  A pretty remarkable accomplishment considering how many truly great leaders and humanitarians have come from our nation. It is also notable given that we are still a country that operates with racist undertones constantly at play. MLK day only became a holiday in the 80's and 90's and  it was not initially accepted by all states. Arizona, South Carolina and New Hampshire were the most notable of states to fight the holiday. John McCain, previewing his poor judgment and all around douchebag-ness fought the holiday as did President Ronald Reagan. It will come as no surprise that former senator and evil MF-er Jesse Helms also objected to it as a national holiday. With so much opposition and over two decades between his death and the holiday you could ask why all the fuss? Did he deserve it?

Our nation is still riddled with racism. We have hate groups whose meetings and public protests are protected by free speech. We still have need for affirmative action, EEOC laws, and the Rooney Rule. I hear people here say racist things all the time, though I find that most often people do not believe they are being racist. Referring to a bar or club as being "dark" isn't apparently racist to almost everyone in this obnoxiously racist town. I also hear people actually claim that "there are black people and then there are n_____s." Really? That's not racist? Surely there are assholes of all colors so why invoke such a hateful term?

Dr. King's dream was not just a civil observance of desegregation and semi-peaceful cohabitation of the races, it was a real and true understanding that skin pigmentation is not where our similarities and differences begin and end. We are humanity, all of us. Every race, culture, religion, and socio-economic group -- we are the dream, united by the human condition and put on this earth together to forge a path and to make the best of life. Should we celebrate Dr. King because he was the leader of the black rights movement? Absolutely, but we should also celebrate his life and his work because he was a great humanitarian. It's time we start honoring his mission with more than a surface acceptance, we need to pull back the curtain and rid our society of the racism and hate that still exists in every corner.