Moving Closer To Dr. King’s Dream

I know what it looks like on the surface. Another person, who has no business talking about anything race related, make a statement about race. But that’s the problem in a nutshell, isn’t it? That we still make judgements, even about who is “allowed” to make social commentary, based on what someone “looks” like, which totally goes against what MLK Jr. wanted, and spoke about in his “I Have a Dream” speech. Our current state goes against one of the most quoted lines of the speech: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!” I truly wish there were progress in this area. We may have even taken a step back, but not in the ways that most people would think.
When our National Media feels the need to bring race into every conversation, and point out the race of everyone at all times, it does NOTHING to advance a narrative and create an environment where race isn’t the overarching issue. Now, don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that racism doesn’t exist. It does. I’m not saying that race based acts of hatred don’t occur. They do. However, please don’t take the bait that all races hate each other, and that race relations are terrible. Please don’t believe that oppression at large is happening in the United States. It happens, and it’s awful, but it isn’t as widespread as often as the news reports would indicate. It’s pretty obvious that the US National Media is out of touch with the reality, thoughts, and desires of our country. Their coverage, predictions, and subsequent scrambling to blame someone for their complete “miss” on the last US election should give one an indication as to how wrong and out of touch these folks are. They’re also wrong on race relations in this country – I think the US population has become more colorblind; it’s almost as if the media doesn’t want want to let that happen. Large news networks truly do seem to be detached from the reality on the ground, and almost hell bent on fear mongering, and dividing this country. 
It starts with putting everyone into demographics, and labeling based on race. I have a hard time finding how doing this can lead to people NOT being judged by the “color of their skin”. If the intention is to make everyone be seen equally, maybe we should try making “race” and “demographics” a non issue? Maybe we should look for every opportunity to de-emphasize race in a news story? Race is something that’s only seen by the eyes, so why do we spend so much time talking about it? Why don’t we spend more time talking about their character? Why don’t we emphasize achievements. It would be extremely refreshing to instead of reading a headline ( which I literally saw today) “Hispanic Dems warn Latinos Will be Hit Hard by ObamaCare Repeal,” Maybe instead – “Dems warn X% of Americans Will be Hit Hard by ObamaCare Repeal”? But that’s not the formula is it? It’s not what gets “clicks” on the website. It doesn’t get as much revenue from advertisers does it? Nope. Gotta make the story “race based.” Click bait – and we fall for it. And what makes this worse, is that the folks writing these race based stories claim to be fighting for racial equality, but don’t get their constant demographic labeling only serves to make people judge solely by the color of skin, race, and national heritage.
One thing that also hurts the progress toward not judging by race/color/heritage is how stories are told. When there is a stupid, race based act of hatred and violence, or some kind of inferred oppression, or when the “news” is viewed as negative ( Latino headline example above), race will be reported highly and heavily, and become the centerpiece of the story. However, when something positive happens… it never really seems to be the focus? “Black Surgeon Successfully Separates Conjoined Twins,” “Group Of Extremely Diverse Men and Women Run For US President.” Nope… let’s only pay attention to the negative. This really doesn’t move the conversation forward, does it? If we’re led to believe that minorities can only experience negativity based on race, despite countless examples otherwise, then our hope of really judging people based on something other than skin color… is doomed. We truly need a media that’s willing to be colorblind, instead of so color focused. 
One thing that can help the country move forward on not judging folks by only race/color/heritage, is for the leaders of minority communities to focus on achievements, and integration. It wasn’t long ago, listening to an NPR interview after the Presidential election, that really threw me. They were discussing the replacement of Democratic National Committee head, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and interviewing a number of people about potential candidates. Of course, there were differing opinions, but during the interview of a black congresswoman, she only offered one suggestion, repeatedly. Over and over, she said that it’s time for a person of color, and hopefully a woman to be DNC chair. That’s all she offered. Nothing about what they would want them to achieve as DNC chair, voter outreach, policy vision…nothing. She was even given the chance to elaborate on qualifications for the position, and only offered that she’d like to see someone of color in the position, and hopefully a woman. I thought this was rather telling. She is a US congresswoman; so a leader in not only her community, district, and State, but also our entire Country. And when she had the opportunity to judge by character, she only wanted to judge by the color of skin, and potentially gender. This is the exact opposite of what Dr. King spoke of. It would go a long way in creating a more colorblind society, if the leaders of minority groups would focus on working with one another, integrating themselves with other groups, and focus on achievement and character as qualifications for advancement; not just color- it is just skin after all. 
Isn’t that what’s ridiculous about judgment based on race to begin with? It only matters what you look like. It shouldn’t, but it does. The most powerful man on the planet, US President Barack Obama, is also “white” – But, because his appearance is more “black” than “white”, that’s all that seems to matter. It’s no secret that people voted for this President Obama, solely based on his dominant racial appearance. I wonder what the narrative would be, if his dominant appearance traits were reversed, and he appeared more “white”? Should it matter? NO… it shouldn’t matter at all, but it’s always deemed as incredibly important. I think it’s equally ridiculous that if a minority chooses NOT to support a political candidate of their own race, that they’re somehow labeled as a “traitor” by their communities- nothing could be further than the truth- if they’re making a political choice based on policy beliefs, record, and character- they’re fulfilling Dr. King’s dream.  
 I remember like it was yesterday, when President Obama was running as a new candidate for US President, I had a friend who I hadn’t seen in a very long time, ask me about what I thought of then Senator Obama. He was making big waves as a Presidential candidate, and you could see his popularity soaring. It’s no secret that I’m not fond of expanding government control, and increased entitlement spending, so naturally, he was not my ideal candidate – My response was, “I won’t be voting for him.” The VERY first thing that came out of his mouth as a response was, “Why, because he is black?” I thought he was joking at first. It was only when I realized that he wasn’t, that I was shocked and disheartened. He really thought, that it would I would make a decision based on racial appearances. Then, it occurred to me, that it was actually him, making the snap judgment. All too often, people are quick to call someone ‘racist’, simply if they don’t agree with the opinion or beliefs of someone that’s a different skin color than their own. We have to stop doing that, and realize that its perfectly fine for people to disagree based on principles, and stop believing that everyone views all things through the lens of “race.”
Am I discounting people that have truly experienced racism? Not at all. It happens. Am I saying that the US hasn’t had some horrific things happen historically with minorities? Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s simply time to move past it, and recognize that we’re living in an amazing time and country ( assuming you live in the US), where there are truly so many opportunities! ( The most powerful man alive is Black; the CEO of the world’s most valuable company is openly gay, a vast majority of Presidential Candidates were women and folks of color; the highest paid athletes are of color; the people even anchoring the news organizations that tell us how racist we are, are people of color- and none of this should matter in the least bat). I’m saying that the country is more colorblind than we’re led to believe, and that we’ve made a ton of progress- but it’s getting stifled and even reversed by organizations based on race, reporting based on race, labels, demographics, affirmative action laws, the instilling into young men and women that they’re at a disadvantage because of their color. Let’s TRULY take the focus off of something so trivial. If we want want to truly move forward, let’s move the focus to character, just like Dr. King wanted. I’ve said it before, our eyes get us in trouble. If all of us were blind, we wouldn’t be having this conversation- it wouldn’t matter. Let’s tell our kids, no matter what color they are – no matter what they look like that they aren’t at a disadvantage, they’re afforded equal opportunity in this country, they’re not victims – they are afforded no entitlement, but no disadvantages either. Let’s take the focus off of race, and do exactly what Dr. King said – judge folks by their character and actions.