Keep moving forward America

In remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr., his life, his calling, his mission...

At the time of his assassination in April 1968, he with the the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and various other organizations were embarking upon the 2nd phase of their mission...addressing POVERTY IN AMERICA. Many people may believe that the Civil Rights Movement accomplished it's final goal with the passage of the Civil Right's Act in 1964, but truly that was only a beginning. Other areas of injustice in America needed to be addressed and changed.

The following information from Wikipedia sheds some light on what else Martin Luther King, Jr. felt and believed in his heart and mind for the "often invisible people" of our nation.
(the link is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr)

In 1968, King and the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) organized the "Poor People's Campaign" to address issues of economic justice. The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C. demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States. King traveled the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created a bill of rights for poor Americans.

King and the SCLC called on the government to invest in rebuilding America's cities. He felt that Congress had shown "hostility to the poor" by spending "military funds with alacrity and generosity". He contrasted this with the situation faced by poor Americans, claiming that Congress had merely provided "poverty funds with miserliness". His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of "racism, poverty, militarism and materialism", and argued that "reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced".

From the Emancipation Proclamation ...
Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had minimal immediate effect on most slaves’ day-to-day lives, particularly in Texas, which was almost entirely under Confederate control.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves. Legend has it while standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of “General Order No. 3”:

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

That day has since become known as Juneteenth, a name derived from a portmanteau of the words June and nineteenth. Former slaves in Galveston rejoiced in the streets with jubilant celebrations. Juneteenth celebrations began in Texas the following year. Across many parts of Texas, freed people pooled their funds to purchase land specifically for their communities’ increasingly large Juneteenth gatherings — including Houston's Emancipation Park,Mexia's Booker T. Washington Park, and Emancipation Park in Austin. Juneteenth celebrations include a wide range of festivities, such as parades, street fairs, cookouts, or park parties and include such things as music and dancing or even contests of physical strength and intellect.

to the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement under Martin Luther King's leadership...



to the election of Barack Obama (African American, biracial, man of color, black man) as President of the United States of America...


... we continue on our journey towards one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thinking of this statement from our Declaration of Independence...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I think if Martin Luther King, Jr. were still alive today, he would say we have much yet to accomplish. Yes! We have made progress, but if we simply compare our current state to our past failures, we will become complacent. Instead let us continue to look inward at the state of our hearts, and outward at our attitudes and actions towards those struggling around us. Let us not turn a deaf ear and a hardened heart to what overwhelms us, but continue to come together as diverse peoples, seeking to understand one another and work together, as a neighborhood, a community, a nation, to achieve fulfillment of dreams for all.

I believe much of what Barack Obama envisions for "change in America" speaks to the 2nd phase of the Civil Right's Movement...addressing the issue of poverty and reducing the disparity felt by many citizens living in our nation.

To read about/hear what people across America are saying about the state of our nation and their ideas for change, check out the following link: http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/home

I often struggle inwardly with what our Declaration of Independence states about freedom, equality, and human rights, and how this truly plays out in everyday life. Slogans clearly heard are: "The United States of America, where anyone can be whatever they want to be!" "America-where one has only to succeed by hard work and "pulling oneself up by the bootstraps!" I believe that achieving personal success or accomplishing one's dreams is much more complicated than simply finding the "inner motivation" and focusing on "individual achievement".

Our forefathers fought to throw off the tyranny of the British government, only to turn around and, on many levels, ignore the rights of many people who did not have the resources and wealth to protect themselves and/or their land. And though we have "officially abolished slavery", enslavement in one subtle form or another still exists today in America, through our prison system, welfare system, drug addictions/War on Drugs, etc. Working in various capacities of social work over the last eighteen years, I have witnessed first hand the disparity people face. In race relations, economic status, our healthcare system, our approach to education and other areas, we have much yet to accomplish.

While attempting to help a young couple in 2005 break off generational chains of "homelessness, poverty, abuse, and drug addiction", I witnessed a huge chasm between desire, ability, opportunity, and achievement. On July 4th, 2005, thinking about this couple's heart wrenching struggle to survive and to change, and the struggles of so many through the years who have not seen the fulfillment of their hopes and dreams, I voiced my frustration about "freedom in our nation" through this piece...

Fourth of July Cry

Empty promises
It’s what you represent

Oppression
The system
carrying on
the virus
of oppression

slavery…
modern day
Infected
raw, sore
and bleeding

Offering up
the broken
the wounded
Spirits collapse
under it’s weight

A mindset of oppression
It’s what you represent.

Empty promises
Land of opportunity
Broken bottles
Littered sidewalks
The American dream

Hungry mouths
Homeless shelters
What about the empty promises?
A hand up
A hand out

Catch 22
Breeding dependence?
Generational curses
Land of the free
Jails overflowing

Drug infested neighborhoods
Home of the brave
Gun wars
Drive by shootings
Birthday parties

Death, blood, violence
Soldier fighting in Iraq
For more
Empty promises
Death, blood, violence

Twisted logic
Kill or be killed
Poisoned souls
Tortured minds
Heaven or hell

America the beautiful
Boarded up shacks
Cockroach hotel
Amber waves of grain
Freely blowing

Freedom, my ass
America God bless
Oh shed your grace on me
Death, blood, violence
People swinging from trees

Stolen land
Crushed spirits
Sidewalk sleeper
Whisky bottle in hand
Empty promises

Tkaeu
2005

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.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

My favorite mural in Cottonwood, Arizona taken 2007

When we let freedom ring,

when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet,

from every state and every city,

we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children,

black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics,

will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual,

"Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.