Reclaim the Dream will roll out this year. It is supported by those who are deeply involved in the kind of people’s work that Dr. King made his life’s work. A website has been set up at www.reclaimthedream.org that reminds us the dream has been “hijacked.” His “message of economic and social justice has been whitewashed and watered down to diversity and non-violence.” Organizers of Reclaim the Dream are asking people who share their concerns to join them in two activities planned for January 21st. The first is at Kiener Plaza across from the Old Courthouse at 9:30 am to form the Dream contingent. There, we will hear messages to authenticate the dream. Later at 7:00 pm, there will be a discussion at Legacy Bookstore, located at 5249 Delmar Blvd.
Look around St. Louis. Does it appear as if we’re working on Dr. King’s dream? What would Dr. King do (WWKD) about some of these social problems? Regarding the attack on the public schools, Dr. King believed that “the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.” Our children are being robbed of a true education and ultimately, their futures.
The growing economic gap between the rich and poor is becoming an acceptable fact. Dr. King would have found it unconscionable, believing “the curse of poverty has no justification in our age” and that “the time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.” On police brutality and the criminal courts, Dr. King said that “law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.” He would be critical of a police department that persists in racial profiling and a prosecuting attorney’s office that has difficulty figuring out what is a crime. On the illegal Iraqi war and U.S. imperialism, Dr. King was on point when he predicted that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
Dr. King reminded us that “of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” He would be appalled to see that the richest country in the world had 45 million uninsured citizens.
Dr. King would be all over injustices like Fire Chief Sherman George’s forced removal and the lack of substantive leadership at the top. He would be wondering why too many of us have been passive about his legacy. Sadly, he knew that “the ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
Let us stand up. Reclaim the dream. “The time is always right to do what is right.”
Postscript: At the annual MLK event in 2010, Mayor Francis Slay
was soundly booed by hundreds of defenders of the dream and
prevented him from delivering his remarks, a public humiliation
that made national news. Slay has consistently shown his contempt
for working people in general and for the African American
community in particular. The mayor has now limited his
appearances in the black community accordingly.
CHAPTER THREE
Black History: Follow the Sankofa Bird
Sankofa is an Adinkra symbol from West Africa. The Sankofa bird
is a mythical bird that flies forward while looking backward,
meaning you cannot move forward without the knowledge and
history of the past.
Black History Can be Found in Strange Places
March, 1995
My people’s history can be found in strange and interesting places, particularly that history of Africans after they came to the shores of America. Joyce Potts is a sister who has a nose for important stuff. She spotted an old booklet at a popular flea market and bought it. Yellowed from age, the booklet is titled The Negro and subtitled Achievements of the Race.
For twenty five cents, you get the “essential information of the Negro.” On the cover is a photograph of George Washington Carver and there are bullet points of what is inside. The editor was Frederick W. Bond and it appears that other family members were also involved. Thomas J. Bond was the president and Anna Bond Johnson was the treasurer. The surprise for me was that the journal was printed right here in St. Louis by Midwest Mutual Publishing, located then at 4300 St. Ferdinand. St. Louis American’s Farley Wilson may even have a photo of these ambitious folks.
What was even more surprising was that the journal came out during World War II and gave insight into some of the issues of the day facing African Americans. The booklet was a compilation of reprints and information by famous black folks. One article titled, “Bill Would ‘Gag’ Biased Politicians” talks about a bill introduced by Senator Guy Gillette ((D-Iowa) to prevent political candidates in the 1944 Presidential race from appealing to the “racial and religious prejudice of voters.” Sounds familiar. Also known as the Gillette Propaganda Exposure Act, it required that all printed literature must state on the front the names of the people responsible for the writing, financing and publishing. It seems that anonymous racist campaign literature was flourishing and had to be put in check.
Several articles talked about the gallant role of blacks in the war and were quite critical of the status of blacks as second-class citizens at home. One raised the poignant question of “how about a little homegrown freedom for our own loyal American Negro? The American Negro was never known freedom from want; and he has also known fear at first hand…” There was internal debate among African Americans as to whether they should continue to push for justice and equality during the war or put all their collective energies into fighting WWII and then take back up their own struggles after the war. That debate raged throughout the war and was never settled.
Another article talked about how a large eastern war plant had hired 300 white women and no black women, despite the fact that 100 had been referred to the company. The explanation given by management was that the jobs required handling of small mechanics and blacks were rejected because they “all had ‘sweaty’ hands.”
An article by Frederick Douglass urged colored men to explore the skilled trades and new technology. Douglass warned blacks to “find new employments; new modes of usefulness to society or …decay.” While other articles talked about the “Negroid Stake in the 78th Congress” or how Southwestern Bell in Kansas City refused to sign a government contract agreeing to hire colored workers, or gave the inside story of the Detroit race riots, the most compelling article is “What the Negro Wants.” It challenged the continued denials of economic opportunities and political power to a sizeable portion of American’s population. The examples given of the conditions of blacks were all too familiar.
Unfortunately, not a whole lot has changed. The issues in the winter of 1943 - over 60 years ago - are still relevant today. The fight for freedom, justice and quality are alive and well. I thank those who came before me and wrote about our achievements (or lack thereof) so that we have a sense of history in order to better plan for the future.
“I hope that Americans as a whole will one day acknowledge the true of origin of this holiday, and remember the pain, loss, and agony of the Indigenous people who suffered at the hands of the so-called ‘pilgrims’…Let us face the truths of the past, and give thanks that we are learning to love one another for the rich human diversity we share.”
John