Would MLK be pleased had he lived?

Eagle Editorial Board

Had he lived, Martin Luther King Jr. would be 83 today. It's hard to picture the vigorous young man assassinated at the age of 38 as an old man and we wonder what he would think were he still alive.

He would be pleased to know there has been progress in the struggle for civil rights. A black man is president and his wife is one of the most admired women in the world. Another black man, the former CEO of a large company, sought the presidential nomination -- of the Republican Party. Forty-one black Americans are serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and one in the Senate. African Americans serve on school boards and city councils, in state legislatures and in other prominent political positions across the country.

There is a growing black middle class and more African Americans are assuming leadership roles in business, education, the arts and the humanities.

But, we think, Rev. King would be dismayed that there remains a large divide between black and white America. He would be unhappy that many black Americans remain snared in the grips of crushing poverty and all the misery that brings. He would be upset that, while African Americans comprise less than 13 percent of the U.S. population, they comprise more than 39 percent of the prison population. He would be angry that homicide is the leading cause of death for black males ages 15-34. He would be baffled that, 46 years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, some states, including Texas, once again are imposing restrictions on voting that would deny that most American of rights and responsibilities to so many people of color, the elderly, the poor. He might be amazed at the magnificent new memorial to him beside monuments to Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, not from the shrine to Abraham Lincoln where King delivered his "I Have a Dream Speech."

King most likely would survey America today and wonder what happened to the glorious movement he led, a movement to bring not only equal rights but equal opportunities to all Americans. He was not alone, of course; good people, white and black, took up the cause. Some, such as King, gave their lives; many were injured.

King was the face of the movement, however. He went to the mountaintop and saw the other side, but we have yet as a nation to reach that mountain peak. He hoped his children would be judged not "by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" He dreamed of a day when "little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers."

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was taken from us much to soon, but he is more than a memory, more than a photo on the wall. He was not a god, not a perfect man; he sometimes, like all of us, had feet of clay. Yet he remains a symbol of the American spirit, the essence that sets this country apart from others. His dream is wrapped up in the great American Dream, and while we have yet to achieve that dream fully, it endures.

Some day, Rev. King, we will look back with satisfaction that what you set in motion has been achieved. On this, your birthday, we thank you for leading us on the path of freedom and justice for all.