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What Happened to the Dream? Copyright © 2005, W. David Tarver A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending a panel discussion that was organized by Jackie Bingham, a senior at Red Bank Regional High School. The subject that Jackie offered for the panel’s consideration was, "What Happened to the Dream?" The Dream, of course, referred to Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of a society in which racial equality and social justice would prevail — a society in which, as Dr. King said, people would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. As I listened to the panel weigh in on the topic, I couldn’t help but formulate my own answer to the question. Having lived through the momentous civil rights struggle, having survived long enough to put it into perspective, I now see that the purveyors of the movement created a huge force that changed this society for the better. This force gave rise to a whole series of opposing forces in the ensuing years, and the effect of those forces has been to slow the progress toward social and economic justice, to defeat The Dream. Here are a few examples of those opposing forces: 1. Murder of Black and Progressive Leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy. It is hard to imagine the impact of those murders if you didn’t live through that time. For me, the murders of Dr. King and Robert Kennedy, coming just a few months apart, were like a kick in the stomach – a kick that expelled both the air and the hope from my body. 2. White Flight, Jobs Flight My hometown, Flint Michigan, passed the first fair housing ordinance in the nation. Shortly thereafter, whites started heading for the suburbs. Their flight was accelerated by the riots that occurred in nearby Detroit and in other major cities. Several years later, General Motors began pulling its facilities out of Flint, creating an economic catastrophe that continues to this day. The story of GM’s abandonment of Flint is chronicled in Michael Moore’s first hit movie, "Roger and Me". 3. Black Brain Drain The best and the brightest in the black community – doctors, lawyers, businessmen, teachers – freed by integration, left the confines of the black community to achieve success in the wider world. This led to a vacuum of leadership and services in black communities across the country. 4. Illegal Drugs Epidemic During the 50s and 60s, drugs were around, but they were relatively rare. Now, illegal drugs have never been more plentiful. No one even talks about a "war on drugs" anymore. As a result of drug crimes, more black men are in prison today than at any time in history. Funny, they aren’t the ones importing the drugs. 5. Access to Education Another funny thing – when blacks were finally allowed to attend "major" colleges and universities, fees skyrocketed. When I attended the University of Michigan in the 70s, my tuition was $275 per semester, and I paid it myself. Now U of M tuition is $5,500 per semester for in-state students, and $14,600 per semester for out-of-state students. This makes it much tougher for poor and middle class kids to climb the social ladder. 6. Breakdown of Community Our public schools are more segregated now than at any time in the last 40 years. Need I say more? 7. Destructive Media Our media are replete with sex and violence, and we wonder why kids go wrong! In a related story, the Fairness Doctrine was repealed in 1987, leading to the era of unabashed political hate speech that we are now experiencing. Even with all of the above, I still contend that our society is better today than it was in the 1960s. The problem is that the trend is negative, and if we don’t turn things around, the status of social and economic justice will be much worse in a few years. The thing that young people like Jackie Bingham must realize is that the gains of the civil rights movement were not given, they were earned through hard-fought struggle. The only way to hold onto The Dream is to keep struggling. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t get lost in negative and self-destructive behavior. Most of all, never give up. Note: Red Bank, New Jersey February 28, 2005 |