Remembering MLK...

April 4th, 1968. On this day, Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered by James Earl Ray (there are still some disputes regarding whether or not James Earl Ray was actually the one who killed MLK). Forty years later, on the anniversary of his death, we wonder, "What happened to the dream? Is it still alive? Would MLK be satisfied with the way we live today?" I would say that if Martin Luther King Jr. was still alive, he would applaud how far we've come, yet still be disappointed. Although I did not live during the civil rights movement, as a young black teenager, I think that we haven't come as far as we should have in forty years, not just in terms of equality, but in terms of where the world should be in 2008. In our world today, there is so much blatant hatred of each other, so much senseless violence. It even makes me wonder how long I'm going to live when people are killed everyday for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's ridiculous. MLK would probably be disappointed with this, especially with the fact that black people are killing off other black people. It might come to a point where there are none of us left, though I'm sure some people would be happy about that. He might tell us not to give others the satisfaction of us killing each other off. I know he would applaud the fact that the two people in the Democratic party who are running for president are Barack Obama, a black man (well, he's mixed. His father was African and his mother is white), and Hillary Clinton, a white woman. And they both actually have a fair shot at it. He would look down upon the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, which the United Nations hasn't labeled a genocide because the people responsible have vetoing powers in the U.N. (China and Russia). He would also look down on what happened during Hurricane Katrina. It happened in late August of 2005. It's three years later and New Orleans isn't even close to being rebuilt. My cousin went there for spring break to help out and she says that except for one district, it looks like the storm hit yesterday. He would probably look down on the fact that the KKK is still out there and has a website and parades. Yes, parades. It seems as though no matter how far we've come, we still have a lot farther to go. His dream would most likely still be the same. All he wanted was for us to all get along and live in peace. What was so wrong with that?