On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 15, 2024, when the most famous American Civil Rights leader in history would have turned 95, he would surely have celebrated the progress that has been made in the last 55 years since his untimely death, but almost as surely, he would be sad at the state of affairs in this country today. He didn’t even live to be 40, and he predicted that his life would be cut short just a day before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968:
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life—longevity has its place.
But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.
And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land.
I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.
The path to the promised land of racial healing and reconciliation has been a winding one, with many a detour and even some shocking turns backward toward a far darker past. Today, King’s dream of a colorblind society where “little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls” is closer to reality than it when he made that famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963 as part of the March on Washington D.C. However, it is hard to believe that King would have approved of the divisive rhetoric and extremes on both sides of the seemingly eternal debate on race relations in this country.
On the one hand, we have the “shaming and blaming” crowd whose offerings in the area of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) range from the absurd to the downright dangerous. This side foments “anti-racism” (as opposed to just being “not racist”), lectures on “white privilege”, supports strict quotas, and often denigrates white people and especially white men when they question any part of the accepted orthdoxy.
On the other hand, we have those who want to “burn it all down”, meaning ending all DEI programs based on the rationale that society is now fair (enough) and there is no longer a need for such work. This side willfully ignores the simple fact that racism and bigotry are still very much alive in our society. The quest for a more perfect union and greater understanding between people of all races, creeds and beliefs is a continuous and noble project that should be pursued by each generation in its own way and given its own unique place in history. The argument that DEI should end altogether conflates its admirable goals with its often shoddy and careless implementation.
Dr. King would almost surely have been somewhere in the middle, according to Clarence Jones, one of his main advisors and speechwriters, now 93 and carrying on the legacy that King was cut short from pursuing. Mr. Jones asserts that much of Dr. King’s message and conciliatory ethos have been forgotten, resulting in a greater number of all Americans believing that race relations are either somewhat bad or very bad.
Jones’s message, channeling his far more famous friend and mentor is that neither extreme has it right. “When asked if American has made any progress on race, Jones is dumbstruck. ‘Are you kidding?’ he said, with shock in his voice. ‘Any person who says that to the contrary, any black person who alleges themselves to be a scholar, or any white person who says otherwise, they’re just not telling you the truth. ‘Bring back some black person who was alive in 1863, and bring them back today,’ he adds. ‘Have them be a witness.’”
Nor does Jones want to live in a society that pretends not to see race. “You don’t want to be blind to color,” he says. “You want to see color. I want to be very aware of color. . . I just don’t want to attach any conditions to equality to color.”
He asserts that if you listen to the anti-racists, you “come away believing that America is irredeemably racist, beyond redemption.” That view simply cannot stand because it would “violate everything that Martin King and I worked for.” It would mean that “it’s not possible for racist white people to change.”
This lack of optimism and this disappearing dream are what Jones and others decry in our current moment. The only hope is to continue the fight, to keep up the struggle in order to reach the vision of Dr. King. Neither a divisive, identitarian worldview nor a baby-out-with-the-bathwater nihilism will do. Today, let’s strive to clasp hands and walk together down a peaceful road to reconciliation.
