I have a dream - MLK Day
January 19, 2011 – 2:43 pm by Cranky VoterI have a dream that my four
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 spoke those immortal words and years later we celebrate his words and the civil rights movement with a day in January. It is a little strange to me because when I was younger I remember this day being very different. I remember this day being a birthday but for someone completely different. It was Washington’s Birthday. What ever happened to George Washington the father of our country. I guess now we remember George Washington in February on a day called President’s Day. Of course President’s Day used to be a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday. Now Abraham Lincoln has to share his day with George Washington and 42 other Presidents of the United States. What ever happened to George and Abe? I guess they are not as important as they used to be. I mean good old George who chopped down that Cherry Tree was the leader of the Revolution and the First President of the United States. Abe Lincoln was the man who preserved our Union although some say his partisanship caused its dissolution of the states and the Civil War. He did end slavery in our nation, although not for three years after the Civil War started. I guess he wasn’t it much of a rush. Why didn’t he free the slaves on Day 1? Anyway, I guess Martin Luther King Jr. gets his very own day because he was a man with a dream.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing man and his dream was a very special one. He believed that we should live in a color blind society. That instead of judging a person by the color of their skin, we should judge based upon the content of their character. That would be great, but it would be better if we started judging everyone on the content of their character. I don’t mean to be cranky or anything, but how many of you know someone who got that job because he is the nephew of the Senior VP. How about that rumor about the new girl in the office named Monica who got the job because she knew the President. Why can’t we live in a meritocracy, where people are judged based upon their ability and performance. Where a person’s character is more important than what they look like or who they know. However, that is not how the world works, not for black men nor white men nor Asian men nor Spanish men nor women of any background. The world is not perfect and bias and prejudice of all sorts is part of our society, but the crime is not prejudging but the results and actions that we take as a result of that prejudging.
We all have certain beliefs that help us reduce complexity and understand individuals and situations. To prejudge is to form an opinion based upon known criteria, previous facts and generalizations. Not necessarily a bad thing, but when those clues to reduce complexity are filled with unfair characterizations and negative stereotypes that is a problem. Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Antisemitism, and all those other isms are dangerous and intolerable especially since they usually serve to blame others for problems they did not cause and do not perpetrate. These isms provide an excuse to not only blame others but to treat others unfairly. I think that the unfairness applied to others as a result of an ism or a prejudice or a stereotype is the major issue that most people object to when we quote the founding documents to proclaim that all men were created equal. Different people are sometimes treated differently and that is okay as long as they are treated fairly. Sometimes the fair thing to do is to treat people differently. Would you want to require everyone to dress the same? Women must wear ties and jackets and no high heels or skirts. Would you want to force everyone to speak English, even if they didn’t know the language? Would you want someone to work the same hours if that lack of flexibility didn’t allow them to tend to their kids or obey their religious beliefs and flexible hours didn’t hinder their work. There are differences and we should embrace those differences and treat them differently where appropriate but all men and women should be treated fairly.
What was happening in the south in the time of Martin Luther King was deplorable and I would have been standing there right next to him demanding a change in behavior. Separate but Equal was degrading and inhuman, and it was totally unfair. Unfortunately we forget that it was the Supreme Court that not only allowed Separate but Equal but helped it become institutionalized. After the Civil War the poor treatment of the South, the huge reparations and the destruction of property didn’t help reduce the tensions between the North and the South, it intensified it. Many Southerns were angry and were looking for a scapegoat. Many were unwilling to reconcile their anger and as a result didn’t treat all free human beings fairly, but they were sanctioned by the Federal Government when they decided that Separate but Equal was acceptable when any rational human being knew that it was not fair to isolate a segment of the population based on something as arbitrary as their skin color.
So I praise Martin Luther King Jr. for pointing out the obvious that the policies of the time were unfair. That innocent people were being treated unfairly. For changing the society through civil disobedience and peaceful assembly. However, not all of the results of the Civil Rights process were good for America. The concept of Social Justice and Affirmative Action are not consistent with Martin Luther King Jr’s dream nor are those policies consistent with the spirit of fairness. Perhaps Social Justice was Martin Luther King Jr’s recommended solution but it is not consistent with fairness or measuring a man on the content of his character. When forced integration in the name of Social Justice results in other innocent children to be bused to a school that lowers the educational experience instead of raising the educational training for all is not fair. Band-aide approaches to trying to fix the crimes of yesterday with inappropriate solutions today doesn’t result in fairness, it just spreads the pain and injustice. This country now has a major problem with education of our young which perhaps resulted from so much time worrying about equal and integrated education and not enough time worrying about the quality of education for all. Instead of focusing on how to spread the same bad education we should be focusing on how to improve education for all at the local level. Social Justice is a term that calls for the over compensating of those who might have been unfairly treated in the past. That just sounds like punishing groups of others in an attempt to make up for unfairness of the previous unfair treatment instead of fixing the problem for everyone. I am not in favor of Separate but Equal, but forced integration and busing didn’t solve the problem either. We should improve the quality of education for all.
At the same time, policies that provide for a quota system or some sort over overcompensation of the previously poorly treated group isn’t very fair either. You can not make things right by doing something that is even more wrong. Two wrongs never make a right. You can provide more resources, and more assistance, but by using social promotion to allow one group to get ahead at the expense of another group does not make things equal. You are now treating another group unfairly and the group who is intended to receive the benefit does not compensate them properly for the previous treatment. You instead foster feelings of resentment on one side and entitlement on the other. Either way you are not measuring a person based on the content of their character, but again based upon the color of their skin.
What ever happened to personal responsibility? People need to take responsibility for their own actions. Once the barriers are reduced to access, once the unfairness is removed, there should be no one asking for special favors or benefits. Measure me on what I say and what I do. I understand it is an imperfect world but why should we work so hard to make it less perfect. If I earn better grades, why should you get into my choice of school over me just because someone is trying to make up for a past grievance and not even to that person but to their grandfather or great grandmother? Is that the best way to make America great? Why shouldn’t the best candidate get the job? Don’t look at the color or the age or the gender or the culture. Judge the person on what they say and how they act. Fairness should be the law of the land. We should not allow our country to be corrupted by progressive affirmative activist bull crap that bestows favoritism on the selected group (no matter how aggrieved in the past) just to dump on another group in the present and future. We must stop perpetuating the attitude of favoritism and entitlement and go back to Martin Luther King Jr’s key premise that all men are created equal and that they should be judged based upon the content of their character and not the color of their skin or the affliction of their ism.
You think I got it wrong? You are going to tell me that I misunderstood Martin Luther King Jr? Yeah, I don’t think so buddy. He felt like he was being discriminated against and he was. He wasn’t being treated fairly. Perhaps I don’t agree with all of his solutions, or at least all of the solutions represented by others as his, but I agree with the premise that people should be treated fairly and should be judged based upon merit. Based upon who they are and not what they look like.
Has it really helped? All this social justice crap? The solution to all this unfairness? There are still problems in the Black community and the biggest problem is the shirking of responsibility, from fathers abandoning their children to kids dropping out of schools. Yeah those integrated schools that were supposed to be the cure actually perpetuated the problem. The successful African Americans were those that took responsibility for themselves and studied hard and worked hard. President Obama didn’t drop out of school but went to some of the best schools in the world. Oprah Winfrey talks about how hard she has worked to get where she is and how she still works hard. I admire these people for taking responsibility and working hard. Not giving into the temptation of entitlement. We all need to take responsibility for our actions and stop the complaining.
Hey News Flash: The world is not fair, so what are you going to do cry about it and wait for a hand out? Why don’t we try to implement policies that are fair? Certainly worrying about everyone’s feelings and trying to over compensate for unfairness is really not working out the way we planned. You know what … I have a dream. My dream is that people would stop being so stupid. Whining and stupid and letting life pass you by. Take responsibility for your own actions and stop waiting around for someone to make it overly fair for you! I got it, let’s have a day for all those people who suffer from their own very special isms .. or maybe that everyday? Happy Isms Day!
Well, maybe that sounds a little cranky and you know, it probably is cranky. But I am going to take responsibility and tell you that it is because I am the Cranky Voter!
