If Dr. King Were Alive Today

(By Troie Seawood)

The question is, if Dr. King were alive today, what would he think of current events?

If Dr. King were alive today, I think he would say, “America. It’s been a long time coming. But we KNEW this change would come.

Forty years ago, I rallied, protested, had been arrested, and marched to fight against the BAD HAND that Blacks and other non-Whites were being dealt in this country WE call the land of the free and the home of the brave. Yes…it’s been a long time coming but we knew a change was going to come. And we’ve shown that we as a nation were ready for that change.”

If Dr. King were alive today, he would be proud that we have begun to reach the goals and privileges that were so long denied us over 40 years ago. We have now made history by becoming a generation of change. But we STILL have a long way to go.

If Dr. King were alive today, I believe that he would be both impressed and disappointed in what’s going on in our society today. He would be impressed with the desegregation measures of our public and private schools, colleges, and universities.

As he stated in his I Have a Dream address on the steps of the White House “…one day little black girls and little white girls, little black boys and little white boys will join hands and play together…”

 Dr. King would be disappointed at the fact that we’ve moved from the times of the Little Rock Nine, and Ruby Bridges, where Blacks and other minorities had to over- look, and ignore hate crimes, to only be reminded in 2007 through The Gena Six in Gena, LA, that racism, segregation, and the hating of one’s skin color determines their guilt or innocence in cases of random acts of hate and violence.

He would be impressed that some, not all of our neighborhoods are desegregated and minorities can take advantage of Fair and Equal Housing Laws.

He would be equally impressed that we’ve had and have African-American State Senators and Mayors of major cities here in our nation.

If Dr. King were alive today, he would be even more proud that America finally elected its first African-American President.