Sunday, January 18, 2009

Dr. King's dream will soon be realized

As Americans prepare to observe Dr. Martin Luther King day, this particular anniversary of it will carry a special resonance, for one day later, this Tuesday will see American history made and the ghosts of America's past put to rest, not having been forgotten, but to have been answered in last November's election.
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From the ghosts of Gettysburg, through the years of the bullies and murderers of Birmingham, Montgomery and Mississippi, change has come to America, a change that would have given Dr King much pride.



When Martin Luther King took to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1962 and delivered his historic address, America was in the midst of a great struggle for equality, a bid to shake off the centuries of hate and inequality, he ultimately paid the sacrifice for his quest for justice, a torch that was passed on to many others to carry on a journey through the decades that have passed since April of 1968.

Yet, as America thinks back to those days of struggle, they look ahead today to a future much different than the one that Dr. King faced and gave his life to change.

With the inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday, the dream that America would find room for and acceptance of her minorities has finally been realized.

There is still much work to be done and still many dreams to be realized, but from Monday's observance of the past and Tuesday's promise of the future, there is a sense of a historical shift, one that won't be turned back, a shift that may finally move them from the suspicions and inequality of the past and towards a time for which America should find pride and hope for better days to come.

Monday will dawn as a Martin Luther King Day like none that has gone before it, and most likely like none that will follow through the decades to come.

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