Almost daily we are treated to the often-quoted remarks by Martin Luther King, Jr - “I have a dream” and “I have seen the promised land”.
Unfortunately he didn’t understand or he couldn’t convey that he was standing in the Promised Land. That all of his people were in the Promised Land and it was up to them to achieve what ever it was that they wanted to achieve in life. He couldn’t convey that it was the brothers of their fathers that rounded them up like animals and sold them to be the laborers of this new nation that would become their promised land. He couldn’t convey that however they got here it was up to them to fulfill the dream that he had.
However his listeners were left with the impression that they were the victims of a white world society that was determined to keep them in their cast system because their skin was different. He passed on to a generation of leaders that they could profit from the myth that their people were victims, victims that they didn’t have to work for their future.
As victims they were entitled to compensation and special benefits from the so-called master race. And, as they were enslaved by the brothers of their fathers who profited from their position in life, they allowed themselves to continue to be enslaved by their self-appointed leaders who convince them that someone owed them a special life.
While they waited for their entitlement, which for many was a government check or an affirmative position, they were passed by hundreds of thousands who came here and prospered in this Promised Land. Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Mexicans and every race on earth struggled to get here. They came not for a government check, but for the opportunity that this “promised land” offered. They worked hard 16-18 hours a day. They banded together with several families living in the same apartment. They demanded that their children get an education, as they knew that was their path to the future. They created community support groups, not to demand special treatment from their new land, but to help each other succeed.
And, succeed they have! They have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams bringing family members to participate in the dream or sending money home to help build a better life in their home countries.
Many of Martin Luther King’s listeners are still listening to self-proclaimed leaders berate this country, demand special treatment, while they themselves profit off those who feel they have been left behind.
The most recent outrageous example has been Barrack Obama’s mentor “The Reverend Jeremiah Wright”. He continually berates white country and has the nerve to say “God Damn America”. While a number of his parishioners live in poverty he uses his rhetoric to promote himself into an expensive home in a prestigious white community.
While many in the black community have waited for their promised land their leaders have taken advantage of their naiveté and profited from them in the same manner as their father’s brothers hundreds of years ago.
Michael Ashbury
Biography - Michael Ashbury
Michael Ashbury, a noted researcher and author, is the author of ''Who is the REAL John Kerry?'' (Booksurge.com 2004).
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