Last Wednesday, America stood still as the nation marked
the fiftieth anniversary of the epochal “I have a Dream”
speech by the late civil rights leader and orator
extraordinaire, Martin Luther King. From Presidents
Carter, to Clinton and Obama, they all spoke of the slow
but steady progress that America has made in race
relations, economic empowerment, civil rights and the
narrowing of lines of discrimination and segregation which
Martin Luther so eloquently spoke against and paid the
ultimate sacrifice.
Fifty years ago, America was still enmeshed in racial
discrimination and segregation. The Deep South - the
ground zero of the struggles for racial equality - was a
cesspool of violence against the blacks, where the
rampaging goons and killer squads of the Ku Klux Klan
ran amok, a land deeply divided according to race, social
standing, and pedigree and skin pigmentation. Schools
were segregated and backs could not sit in the front
seats of public transportation, neither could they go to
non-colored restaurants and expected to be served. The
landmark 1896 Plessey v Ferguson had legalized and
institutionalized discriminations.
The rights of citizenship as enshrined in the 15th
Amendment was flagrantly abused as sleek and sly
machinations were employed by several states in the
south to ensure that the central role of citizenship- the
right to vote was denied blacks while the morally revolting
trade in humans which Lincoln abolished through the
landmark Emancipation Proclamation was skirted around
through sleek legal processes and laws passed by the
state legislatures form the south
It was in an effort to create a more inclusive society, an
economic level playing field and a sense of dignity to the
blacks that Martin Luther King took upon himself the task
of rousing the nation’s conscience to this inhumane
manner the blacks were treated. Employing the
instrument of non- violence, Martin Luther brought the
issue of discrimination and segregation to the front
burner of national discourse and eventually succeeded in
forcing a change to civil and voting rights for the blacks.
The historic Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964
and 45 respectively changed the texture of American
politics and helped usher in the redeeming provision of
the 15th Amendment.
Martin Luther King played a pivotal role in awakening the
nation’s conscience to the ills of racism. His “I Have a
Dream Speech” which was given at the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial in Washington on August 27 1963, and
whose 50th Anniversary was marked this week, helped
to soften the hardened concrete of America towards
racial equality. While other civil right movements
employed and openly advocated the use of violence to
achieve their aims, Martin Luther took the path of non-
violence, fully conscious of the belief that violence begets
more violence.
He wanted America where blacks would not be judged by
pre-conceived notions based on race, but by the
appreciation of God’s un-ending gift of freedom which is
colour blind. He wanted a nation that would celebrate its
diversity and use it as a source of strength and not as an
optically repellent condition.
Even though he, as rightly predicted may not get to the
Promised Land, as he was senselessly cut down at the
prime of his life in 1968, his prophetic, message today
has come to pass. Little black boys and girls from
Mississippi down to New York, Alaska, etc today are
holding hands in a symphony of love and oneness,
schools that hitherto were closed to black kids on account
of colour have now been de-segregated, enabling my
daughter, Uduak, now a senior in high school, that is 98
percent white to have friends who, a mere fifty years
ago, would have been barred from fraternizing with her.
As President Obama stated, because of Martin Luther
king, American political process has been made better
and saw changes from city councils, the mayoral
chambers, the state legislatures, the governors chambers
and finally the White House. Fifty years ago, President
Obama with all his Ivy League education and political
skills would have been judged purely from his skin
pigmentation as opposed to his God’s given talents.
Today, thanks to Mr. Luther King, the rough plains of
American politics have been strengthened, the goons of
KKK have been reduced to the fringes, and the loud
voices of racial irredentists have been silenced while the
orchestra of inclusion and tolerance now rent the air. The
gulf of discrimination based on race has been bridged and
young people of all races can now look to America where
though the vestiges of discrimination still exists, now has
been made better by the rainbow of diversity that defines
the nation.
Though elements that are opposed to change still speak
in frightening tones, their voices have been drummed out
by the loud proclamation of oneness of our essence.
Today, a black man with an exotic name and heritage sits
in the world’s most powerful office-The White House.
Today, African Americans are no longer spectators in the
field of political relevance, economic empowerment or
social and cultural awakening; they are major players,
key members of the boardroom. An African American is
the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, an African
American is the engine room of efforts to keep America
safe - the National Security Adviser, Dr. Rice; African
Americans have ruled states such as the bastion of the
Old Confederacy, Virginia - Douglas Wilder; African
American had ruled the nation’s economic and power
house, New York - David Patterson an African American I
today rules one of the most white states in America,
Massachusetts - Deval Patrick.
All over the nation, because of the efforts of one man,
Martin Luther, the political, cultural and economic
landscape of a nation was changed; it repudiated a
culture of discrimination and segregation and saw the
folly in judging fellow humans based on the colour of their
skin and not by the content of its character.
Reflecting on the speech, I couldn’t help but wonder
when our Martin Luther King moment would occur; when
we would begin to see ourselves as one people drawn
and inextricably bound by the pursuit of things that unite
us, as opposed to those that divide us; when we would
speak as Nigerians and not as northerners, or easterners
or south westerners, but as Nigerians. When will the
Martin Luther moment occur in Nigeria? When politics
would no longer be seen as a zero sum game, when the
interests of the people would be paramount in the grand
schemes of our leaders, when our leaders would realize
that success in public service is not measured by how
many mansions you built, how fat your bank account is,
how many cars you have in your garage, but by what
efforts you made to impact and touch lives profoundly.
I yearn and pray for that moment when a galvanizing
voice would appear on the horizon and lift every soul and
propel us to build a nation that would apply the vast
resources at our disposal for the common good and not
common greed; a galvanizing voice who would tell us that
politics of inclusion is more ennobling than the politics of
exclusion and that east, south, north and west, we are all
one. Hopefully, that moment will come in or lifetime.
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