Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Legacy: “I HAVE A DREAM”…It is relevant today?

Written by: Deltonia N. Shropshire, MA

The efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. enabled many different people to have rights that were originally denied by those in governmental power at the time. Has anything really changed? Who is the oppressor now?

WHAT OTHER REASONS MAKE THIS MONUMENTAL?>>>

People of color, no matter the race, including the Jewish community, were often denied the right to integrate with the white population. Women’s rights also expanded as a result of this struggle.

There were many that lost their lives fighting for the right to be considered human. People died so that their children and children’s children would be able to access the same education as those who were caste as “better” or somehow how “superior”. Without this fight, we would still be unable to partake in many civil liberties that we all seem to take for granted these days.

Though this journey is honored and celebrated, we still have along way to go as evidenced with the necessity for Affirmative Action .

Though the legislation seems to have evaporated most likely because no one fought to enforce what it was intended to do for those still facing variations of discrimination.

The things Dr. King Jr. would most likely say we need to improve are as follows:

–Education :

There is no excuse for the United States to be one of the lowest performing countries in the world. We have all of the advances but still not enabling ALL students access to said technology.

Students themselves are not invested in their own education nor hope for a bright and productive future. Kids are hurting one another by bullying and even murder.

Standardized tests that have yet to be proven whether they actually measure ACCURATE student performance or whether the child is a poor test taker-are more of a hinderance than a monitor.

Poor school conditions make students so uncomfortable that they don’t want to learn let alone go to school on a regular basis.

Student services are not accommodating students at a rate in which they ought because staff sizes are too few to administer the necessary assistance to the student.

Children who are low income, homeless and even military are falling through the cracks because there is nothing in place to fill their academic needs as they transition from one place to the next or one academic setting to a whole new setting that may require another set of skills which they may or may not possess from the last placement.

-JOBS

REBUILDING STRONG FAMILIES

STRENGTHEN FAITH

CHARACTER EDUCATION….Where is the humanity? The concern for ones fellow man has become more opportunistic in nature. Social and emotional intelligence seems to have left our culture and with it the authentic ability to connect with those experiencing affliction.

There is work to be done. Are we equipped to run the next part of this race?