AN UNREALISTIC DREAM

Most folks are too young to remember the 60's with the separate drinking fountains, separate restrooms, separate restaurants, separate hotels, separate.... I remember a mob surrounding a house because a Black family moved in. That is not really so hard to believe, except it was in Detroit, not Alabama. I remember our Navy football team being told one of our players could not eat where our bus had stopped in Maryland. I remember a Virginia lunch counter being fully occupied by Black folks, and seeing no food or drink. I remember a Black Air Force General being refused service even though he was a guest of the Mayor of Pensacola, Florida. But of all the things I remember about the hateful treatment of Blacks, the most horrible was the day Martin Luther King, Jr. died. I wept. You see, I heard Dr. King give his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, and for a while, I actually believed it could come true. Unfortunately, his dream died with him.

Today, we have a Black President. Today, there is a holiday dedicated to the memory of Dr. King. Today, there are roads and highways named for him throughout the land. If I were naive, I would probably believe that the dream was becoming a reality, but I am not, and it is not. Today, we have Black Miss America, Black Radio and TV stations, Black magazines and newspapers, and the worst of all, there are Black churches. As long as there is a focus upon color, the dream will never be possible. Black Pride is fine because there should be pride in one's heritage, but it ceases to be okay when it is a rallying cry for division. Yes, we have come a long way, but I am afraid we have left the trail blazed by Dr. King, and have simply remained a nation of racists, both Black and White.

The Apostle Paul had the right idea. In Galatians 3:28, he wrote, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." He said that then, and I say this now, that there is neither Black nor White (or any other color), and that to feel superior to someone based upon such differences is un-Christian, and un-American. It is sin. Jesus prayed four times in John Seventeen that Christians would be one. In Acts 17:26, Luke wrote that God had "made of one blood all nations to dwell on all the face of the earth...." We do not belong to a race; we are all members of the human race, period!

I am afraid that although we have a Black President and a holiday celebrating the life of one of the greatest Americans in our history, the dream will never come to fruition. Few Blacks and even fewer Whites, appear to be making an effort to judge a person by only their character. Instead, it is their race, gender, nationality, social-economic status, educational level, religion, and political views that are used to determine whether or not they are "equal to us." The content of one's character does not even come into play until it is decided the person is just like us; only then is character an issue. It is obvious that the dream will remain just that, a dream, until the Lord returns and changes humanity into His own likeness. Until then, it is just not going to happen. Instead of King's dream, America remains in, what may better be described as a nightmare. Come Lord Jesus!