A portion of the I Have A Dream speech that resonated with me as I read it last night to my daughter:
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
Though delivered in 1963, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are as important and relevant today as they were then. I too 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 too enjoyed rereading the speech and revisiting that time. While there have been meaningful improvements through legislation and through personal attitudes, I believe the human instinct to resort to racism or anti-this or that is always present. Rough up the public with a little bit of travail and the public will find a scapegoat. It is hard for people to address the true causes of their problems because the causes are messy and not able to be expressed in three words or less. Better to condemn a whole group of persons.